The Invisible Hand
by Jedi Carpet
Summary: Story continuation after The Greater Sin. Darth Krayt launches a devastating assault on the galaxy to cleanse it of any power that defies his vision.
1. Prologue

Prologue

**From the Private Journal of Jedi Master Jacen Solo, 40.5 ABY**

The Imperial Remnant was the first to fall. A quarter of their fleet, led by my friend Admiral Gilad Pallaeon, was called to face five ships. They all died without taking out a single enemy capital ship. The Imperial governors surrendered within the hour that followed.

The Jedi Coalition was next. Five major battles were fought, all were lost. Tycho Celchu, Gavin Darklighter, Face Loran. Rogue Squadron. Keyan Farlander. Madurrin. Tresina Lobi. Alema Rar. Valin Horn. Rosh Penin. Twenty eight Jedi in total. Thousands of loyal soldiers and pilots. Half of the fleet was decimated before the withdrawal order was completed. Wedge took the other half, pulled out of every sector with as many resources and people as they could carry, destroyed every factory and shipyard he could, and retreated. Nobody knows where the fleet ended up. My best guess is Chiss Space or somewhere else in the Unknown Regions. Every planet that has supported the Jedi is now largely undefended, not that our defenses amounted to anything. Kashyyyk and Dac are expected to be hit first. There is nothing we can do. The Mon Calamari, Quarren and Wookiees are already evacuating to anywhere they can. They figure if they aren't home, their home won't get destroyed. I can only hope that's true.

I don't know the fate of the Jedi Temple. There was a battle... Uncle Luke is still alive, and I know he was there. Jaina, mom and dad were at the battle, too. I...I didn't feel anyone die through the Force, so I know they escaped. I suspect they are going to Corellia, the last safe house solar system in the galaxy protected by the gravity well generator of Centrepoint station, and that's where I'm going, too.

Hapes has been lost, too. I can see it now. I don't know how I missed it. The whole plot to remove Tenel Ka from the crown was part of the plan to take over the Consortium without firing a shot. I should have caved. I should've gone along with it and let Carys give up the throne and get Tenel Ka back and just left with my family. The entire cluster was destroyed and Carys was killed because _I fought back_. Their blood is on my hands. They used chemical weapons, orbital bombardments, legions of shock troops...the entire Hapan fleet was wiped out fighting to the last man and woman, and every planet's population was systematically massacred without remorse while escaping ships were slaughtered by the blockade. Tenel Ka and I were at Reef Fortress when Hapes was hit. We barely escaped with our lives and the contents of our memorial to the Jedi using the _Solo Quest's_ cloaking device to get past the blockade. I don't think I have any food on board except the emergency rations. We had to leave that quickly. I don't know if many Hapans escaped, but Isolder was on diplomatic business with the Chiss. I hope he's safe.

The Black Vornskrs are the only ones who have held their own, if just barely. Eriana was prepared to keep her fleets mobile and fade away at any signs of hostility. She has set up safe houses around the galaxy, but mobility and the guise of piracy are keeping the Vornskrs alive. By now she should have her base set up in the Maw. It is the one place that they'll never be able to attack – their ships are too big to fit through the black holes, or the defenses are too great for smaller ships. Eriana has turned the Maw into the best defended location in the galaxy. I almost wish they would attack there. If I can't find Jaina on Corellia, that's where I'll go next.

As far as I know there are less than thirty Jedi left, not including the younglings. Luke Skywalker. Cilghal. Kenth Hamner. Tionne Solusar. Kam Solusar. Kyp Durron. Octa Ramis. Lowbacca. Streen. Corran Horn. Kirana Ti. Kyle Katarn. Mara Jade Skywalker. Jaden Korr. Tesar Sebatyne. Jaina Solo. Tyria Sarken Tainer. Tresk Im'nel. Markre Medjev. Tekli. Chitter. Doran Tainer. Jysella Horn. Tiu Zax. Leia Organa Solo. Nelani Dinn. Sanola Ti. Eriana Fostenon. And me.

I can't even count Tenel Ka in that list. Ta'a Chume broke her. It will be a long time before she is able to fight again. Danni Quee, while not a Jedi, is still on Zonoma Sekot helping us as she can. Looking at the days ahead, we'll need all the help we can get.

They call themselves the Bogan Empire. Their ships are unstoppable, their warriors are on par with the Jedi, and there are many more of them than us. I don't know much of what happened or why, but I do know one thing: Darth Krayt must pay for his crimes.

* * *

A/N: Again, I own nothing (though I did create Eriana).

Welcome to another exciting chapter! I hope you enjoy reading it. For those of you just tuning in, this is part 7 of my series. Please take a look at my profile for links to all of the others. This might stand on it's own, but you'll be fairly lost without having read some of the other content on any of the OC/Black Vornskrs stuff. Guys...in this one, all hell is breaking loose. As you read above, there have been losses, and there will be many more to come. I'll be exploring some very real themes in this story, and I'll be the first to say that what you see is not always what you think it is. I've put a lot of thought into this story and there are things I wrote in The Greater Sin that were shaped as I started writing and planning The Invisible Hand.

Again, I thank my faithful fans for sticking with me over the years, and I hope you all don't track down my IP address and kill me in my sleep for this one :)

P.S. The Invisible Hand is an economic metaphor conceived by Adam Smith in the 1700s that an economy will always strive towards a natural state of equilibrium through self-regulating tendencies of market forces. What this means in the context of this story is...Darth Krayt got his MBA while nobody was looking and I'll let him explain it for me.


	2. Dramatis Personae

Dramatis Personae (in alphabetical order)

Allaya Solo – Female second-born child of Jacen and Tenel Ka

Anakin Solo – Male first-born child of Jacen and Tenel Ka

Arthur Daniels – Jedi Coalition Fleet scientist, Major

Ben Skywalker – Male Jedi Apprentice to Lowbacca

Boba Fett – Male Mandalorian leader, bounty hunter

Danni Quee – Jedi Scientist

Darth Krayt – Tattoinian Male Sith Lord, leader of Bogan Empire

Don Cooper – Male Black Vornskr General, 4th Fleet

Eriana Fostenon – Female Black Vornskrs leader, Former Jensaarai Defender

Erinn – Jedi Apprentice to Jaina Solo

Han Solo – Corellian male ex-smuggler

Jacen Solo – Coruscanti Male Jedi Master, Black Vornskr leader

Jaina Solo – Coruscanti Female Jedi Master

Kyp Durron – Male Jedi Master

Leia Organa Solo – Alderanian Female Jedi Knight

Lowbacca – Male Wookiee Jedi Master, Black Vornskr Lieutenant

Luke Skywalker – Male Jedi Master, leader of Jedi Coalition

Mara Jade Skywalker – Female Jedi Master

Octa Ramsis – Female Jedi Master

Stragoron – Male Black Vornskr General, 1st Fleet

Pulastra - Female Black Vornskr General, 3rd Fleet

Zara – Female Twi'leki Bogan Assassin

Tenel Ka Djo – Female Jedi Knight, Queen of Hapes Consortium

Wedge Antillies – Supreme Admiral of Jedi Fleet Operations

(I think that's everyone)


	3. Loss

A/N: Because I'm a nice guy, I'm going to post this next one early. I'll probably set into a routine of posting on Fridays, as is typical for me. I apologize in advance. This one isn't supposed to be pleasant.

* * *

Part 1: Collapse

* * *

The old man's withered form laid on the hospital bed, unmoving and weak. The left side of his face was slack, all muscle control lost, and the right looked hardly any better. It looked like he had aged fifty years in a couple of days. Few would recognize him for who he was in this state. A former smuggler. A thief, an expert gambler. A hero of the rebellion to restore the republic. The father of three Jedi. The great Han Solo.

Jacen looked at his father through the sheet of transparisteel in the hospital and fought with all his strength to hold back the tears hovering behind his eyelids. His sister and mom rested her heads against his shoulders, and he held them against him around their shoulders with what little force of will he had left. He had to stay strong; they were depending on him.

Han had suffered a stroke and was allergic to whatever miracle drugs the best doctors on Corellia had available to cure it. Jaina had said during the battle they were swarmed with enemy fighters. She and Leia were in the turrets firing at a swarm of traitorous starfighters. Han was in the cockpit flying. That's when Jaina described what felt like her heart freezing solid – she knew he was in trouble. She had barely made it to the cockpit to pull the _Falcon_ out of a collision course for one of the capital ships. She did the only thing she could – the Jedi Temple had already jumped to hyperspace, so she left whatever other Jedi who were still fighting behind to escape to Corellia. But the damage was done. They were too far from a medical facility and the stasis field on the _Falcon_ had been damaged in the battle. Han Solo would never be the same again.

Han's eyes fluttered open and they watched as he tried to say something to the medical droid that was assigned to him.

"Let me," Jacen whispered as Leia and Jaina tried to pull away from him and enter Han's room. He left them behind and pushed the door open without waiting for a response. Han saw him approach and smiled with the right side of his mouth, his lopsided grin much more pronounced than usual.

"Hey kid," Han said. "Why s-so s-sad?"

Jacen sat on the bed and took his dad's right hand in his own. His grip was firm, but still weak. Too weak to be the hands of the man who helped topple the Empire, smuggle goods across the galaxy and escape death a thousand times. And far too weak to be the strong hands that carried him, Jaina and Anakin when they were kids.

"I wish I brought Tenel Ka and the kids. They're with Corran and Erinn at the hotel," Jacen said evasively. He did not know what else to say. His mind went blank as he tried to think of something – anything – to say, but he sat there in stunned silence.

"I like to s-see 'em," Han slurred. "Doc ssssay..."

Jacen forced a smile and nodded. "I know. One week. Their best healers..."

"We all die, Jassen," Han said seriously. The grim haunted look that Jacen never expected to see looking at him from his father's face sent a shiver down his spine. Han squeezed his son's hand harder with great effort and his eyes glowed with a fading glimmer of the brilliant life that Jacen knew he'd never see again. "Proud of you. And Jaina. All of you. Alwaysss have."

"I'm not going anywhere," Jacen said. His efforts to stop himself from crying were no longer enough and tears began to trickle down his cheeks. "We're all staying right here."

"No," Han said. "I want my family here. Luke. Mara. All I have left iss family. Find them."

Han's head rolled to the side and his grip faltered.

"Dad?" Jacen asked desperately. He squeezed his dad's hand, but the grip was not there. He rolled his dad's head back to face him and felt for a pulse. "Dad, please wake up!"

Jaina and Leia rushed into the room at Jacen's panicked call and stopped at the foot of the bed.

"Master Solo has fallen asleep," The droid attendant said in his horribly monotone synthesized voice. "His pulse and oxygen levels are nominal for someone of his condition. Please allow Master Solo to rest."

Jacen numbly stood up and retreated to where his mom and sister were still standing at the end of the bed.

"He wants us to bring the family together," Jacen told them. "Luke, Mara, Ben. I...I think he wants to say...goodbye."

"We have no idea where the temple is," Jaina said. She looked over at Han helplessly. "I don't know if we can find them in time."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Over the course of the next two days, Han's condition degraded. His words became more slurred and difficult to articulate, and he began using the wrong words to his own frustration. Jacen and Jaina took turns with their mom at his side and alternated taking trips outside the Centrepoint gravity well field to try contacting Luke and Mara on the encoded Jedi frequencies. While watching Han and Leia with Anakin and Allaya, the middle generation of Jacen, Jaina and Tenel Ka remained outside in the observation area trying to soak in the heart-wrenching happiness of the two toddlers playing with their grandfather, likely for the last time. Tenel Ka and Jacen stood together watching their kids with arms around each other, seemingly holding the other up while Jaina stood somewhat awkwardly off to the side on her own. As if through an unspoken agreement, they all knew that this was probably the last time their family would ever be together.

_Come home._

Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka and Leia all looked in a south-westerly direction at the same time. Even Anakin looked around as if he was trying to find the source of the mysterious voice.

"Did you?" Jaina asked, looking at her brother and sister-in-law.

_My children, come home._

"That was Uncle Luke," Jacen said.

"But where is 'home,'" Jaina asked. "Coruscant? Tattoine? They're both in hostile territory."

"Did you...?" Leia popped her head out of the door from Han's room.

"Yavin Four," Tenel Ka said. "Where we all learned the Force. That is where Master Skywalker wants us to go."

Jaina and Leia looked at her with surprise and Jacen nodded slowly. "You're right. It's the only place most of the Jedi who weren't on the temple would consider to be a home."

"I'm not going," Leia said. The pain in her eyes frightened her children more than anything, but they saw the determination in her eyes as well.

Tenel Ka and Jacen exchanged a look and Jacen nodded.

"I will stay, too," Tenel Ka said. Despite her strong appearance, Jacen could feel the alien sensation of fear spike within her. After the torture she experienced from the hands of her grandmother, she wanted to stay with the safety of their family.

"We'll be back as fast as we can," Jaina promised her mother. "And we'll bring Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara back."

"I know you will," Leia said. "Don't take too long."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Over the many hours that Jacen and Jaina waited in orbit of Yavin IV, Jedi ships trickled into the Yavin system and took up a loose formation with them. Greetings were exchanged on arrival, but silence generally persisted between the growing fleet of small freighters and fighters as if picking up on the sombre mood of the Solo twins.

While Jacen meditated in his quarters, Jaina took it upon herself to do something _useful_ and organize the fleet. She sent every new arrival a set of coordinates to plot a course for should trouble arrive and designated a position within their makeshift formation. Eventually, tired of waiting, she sent Kyp and Octa to scout the surface of Yavin IV around where the Massassi temple had once stood to look for signs of Luke or Mara. As Kyp and Octa finally returned from the moon, Jacen re-entered the cockpit and sat down at the communication station and activated an open channel without preamble.

"Jedi ships, power engines and head for Yavin V at full throttle," Jacen ordered. "Repeat, set course for Yavin V immediately with all speed. We have an enemy fleet arriving in under a minute."

"There's nothing on sensors," Jaina argued as she examined her displays.

"I sensed it through the Force," Jacen replied, switching to the co-pilot seat and rerouting tactical controls to his location. "Krayt sent one of his destroyers."

Jaina's heart sunk as she hurried through the process to bring the _Solo Quest_ back up to full power. While she had only faced off against a turncoat Imperial fleet and some of Krayt's smaller ships defending the Jedi Temple, according to Jacen, two of Krayt's destroyers had massacred the entire Hapes Consortium on their own. The small Jedi fleet of fighters and frigates would have no match against one of those ships.

"You're the only one who has seen one of these ships," Jaina said. "What should we expect?"

Jacen closed his eyes for three seconds. When he reopened them, Jaina's eyes widened in surprise. He looked _terrified_.

"Expect your worst nightmare. They're here."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Fifteen kilometres of obsidian black warship dropped out of hyperspace directly over where the small Jedi fleet had been two minutes earlier and launched a devastating assault on that location. Four thousand blaster turrets fired obsessively on their assigned coordinates, but hit nothing as the Jedi ships were already retreating toward Yavin V.

"Update targeting coordinates," Wyyrlok growled. Deep within the enormous warship, the oval shaped command centre's entire wall glittered with holographic images projected from overlapping cameras on the exterior hull, providing the command crew with a view of the ship's surroundings while being safely protected from any counter attack. Wyyrlok narrowed his yellow eyes at the escaping ships and bit back a curse. The Jedi had been alerted to their presence and, in the two minute hyperspace jump, and had moved out of the pre-determined kill zone. And their ships were much faster than the _Tormenter_. "Launch all fighters. I do not want to report failure to Lord Krayt. Maintain pursuit until all Jedi lifesigns have been obliterated."

"Acknowledged, milord," Captain Kort's sharp Coruscanti accent replied. One of the many defectors that had joined the Bogan Empire Fleet at the conquest of Coruscant, Kort had proven an able and efficient officer at executing Wyyrlok's commands, likely well motivated by having witnessed the execution of his predecessor. "Launching all fighters."

Wyyrlok ignored the bustling activity around him as the _Tormenter_ was steered toward the escaping Jedi and his ship began spewing fighters out of the hanger bays. Two hundred and eighty eight starfighters against a dozen Jedi ships. It should be a short battle.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Look at that firestorm!" Jaina exclaimed. "They must have..."

"About twenty thousand weapon emplacements," Jacen finished for her. "Heavy turbolasers, ion cannons, laser turrets, concussion mission launchers and proton torpedo turrets. And a super laser on top that can go through two Battle Dragons. It's a hell of a ship."

Jaina looked at the rear display and noted the design. Like two parallelograms put together along the long edge, the arrowed design looked both menacing and efficient. Sensors indicated it to be fifteen kilometres long and ten wide.

"They're launching fighters," Jacen reported in his emotionless battle voice. "They look like the big ship but they are bloody fast and powerful. Three laser canons on top, and a dozen torpedoes each. They can run down an X-wing no problem, and squadron leaders are usually Force sensitive. Each command ship carries two wings worth. We think they have manufacturing capabilities to recoup losses, too."

"Jedi ships, throw all available energy into rear shields and engines," Jaina ordered. "Clear the gravity well as soon as you can and scatter. May the Force be with you."

"ETA for the first wave is two minutes," Jacen reported, reading his sister's mind of what she wanted to know. "The slowest ships won't break the gravity well for almost three."

"We need to buy a minute," Jaina surmised and toggled the comm. channel. "Kyp, Octa, anyone else in a fighter, we need to engage the enemy to buy time for the slower ships. Form up on me and prepare to engage."

"_Have you seen how many there are out there?_" Kyp demanded. "_Two squadrons will be on top of us in a couple minutes with another _twenty two_ squadrons are right behind them!_"

"We only need to engage for a minute," Jaina replied. "Keep them off the slower ships. If we can hold off the first wave, our ships can jump before the second arrives."

"Jaina, we only have seven real combat ships, including the _Quest_," Jacen said. "And this ship was designed to run first, not fight."

"Would you rather we leave Tesar and Tresk to die without doing anything? They're in the two slowest ships."

Jacen fell silent.

"I didn't think so."

Blaster bolts began lancing past the cockpit, but Jacen's readings indicated they were too far away to cause any real damage. Yet.

"Readying laser turrets and concussion missiles," Jacen said. He put an optical imaging device on his head to provide a targeting view for his linked turrets and swung them to aim stern. Sensors indicated the enemy ships were still out of range but the distance indicator was running out of numbers fast.

"Nelani, Kyp, and Octa, prepare to break port. Tyria, Doran, and Jaden, prepare to break starboard. We'll take the middle. Engage at will. Use shield trio techniques to maximize defenses and wait for my signal."

Jaina watched as the enemy fighters drew closer, noting the increasing effect of their weapons against the rear shields. "Break, now!"

She spun the _Solo Quest_ in a twisted hair-pin turn and Jacen swung the turrets and shield power to forward. The distance between the _Quest_ and enemy ships closed rapidly and a pair of concussion missiles took out two of the ships while Jacen used the combined fire of the two turrets to blast another two apart. Blaster bolts and torpedoes rocked the _Quest_, but the shields held against the brief onslaught of return fire before the _Quest_ blasted through the enemy formation. Jaina swung the ship around again and slammed the throttle to full, easily keeping up with the enemy ships. Half of the arrow-like fighters scrambled, the other half stayed on course for the escaping Jedi fleet.

"Shoot-"

"Got-"

"There-"

"Ya."

Jaina and Jacen worked in unison blasting enemy ships apart and trying to minimize damage to the _Quest,_ but the fighters began to regroup and counter attack. Communication between the two shield trios was as frantic as the twins' own as the battle frenzy to wipe out the enemies persisted.

"_Taking damage_."

"_Redirect shield power_."

"_Failure on fourth engine!_"

"_Losing shields._"

"_Break port, I've got you_."

"_He's right on top of me!_"

"_Cycle shield power and break starboard."_

"The next wave is almost on top of us," Jacen reported as two more fighters exploded under his turret fire, but not before they were able to launch several torpedoes at Tesar's ship. An unexpected impact penetrated the shields of the _Quest_ and a panel exploded above Jacen's head, showering him with sparks and singeing his hair. "We can't take much more of this!"

"How many have jumped?"

"None, they're all providing interference for the slower ships," Jacen said. "Frak! Tesar's ship is gone!"

"Jedi ships, _get out of here!_" Jaina screamed into her mic.

"_I'm hit! Gonna blow!_"

"_Eject! Eject!_"

A burst of static denoted a destroyed fighter and Jaina bit back another curse.

"_Nelani ejected_," Kyp reported. "_Two fighters are going after her! I can't get to her!_"

"Bring us around," Jacen ordered. "I'll try to pull her in."

"How?" Jaina demanded, but complied.

"Aing Tii technique," Jacen said impatiently. "Same one I used to save Allaya on Hapes."

The _Solo Quest_ flipped around and raced toward Nelani as two enemy fighters closed on her position, opening fire at her bright orange suit floating between the stars. The blaster bolts tracked harmlessly around her until Jacen felt one blaster bolt lock onto her trajectory.

"No!" He shouted.

An X-wing dropped out of hyperspace right between Nelani and the enemy ships, absorbing the stream of blaster bolts on its shield as a second X-wing appeared right behind it and blasted the two enemy ships apart with four well-placed proton torpedoes. The two X-wings joined up in formation with each other and turned their assault to attacking the last few fighters still pursuing the lagging Jedi ships. Jacen finally locked his senses on Nelani and yanked her through space and time. A loud thud behind him told him something landed behind him.

"Thanks!" Nelani's muffled voice came through her helmet.

Another pair of torpedoes rocked the ship and Jaina focused her attention on evading the attacking ships with a steep dive and a spin to starboard.

"_Jedi ships, slave your navicomputers to Artoo,"_ Luke Skywalker's calm voice transmitted from one of the new X-wings. "_Mara will be the last ship out_."

Another torpedo exploded against the _Quest_'s shields and Jacen returned fire while Jaina programmed the navicomputer to accept Artoo's override.

"This is gonna be close," Jaina said through gritted teeth. "The next wave is almost on top of us.

"Looks like we're all clear of the gravity well," Jacen said. A chirp came from Jaina's side of the cockpit and Jacen smiled grimly. "Navicomputer is locked in. It's now or never, Uncle Luke!"

A second later, the fleet jumped into hyperspace and both siblings sunk into their seats. Even though the battle was only a few minutes long, the stress had drained them.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	4. Memory

Eight hours and three jumps through hyperspace later, the _Solo Quest_ landed on a clearing between all the other Jedi ships on Zonoma Sekot. Not far from the clearing was the magnificent tower of the Jedi Temple sticking up like a giant metallic finger amid the sprawling jungle of the living planet, looking both out of place and spectacular in the mid-day sun.

All the Jedi who arrived together made their way up the path toward the Jedi Temple in complete silence, not even making eye contact with each other or giving the slightest hint of recognition. They all knew that Luke would not be summoning them together without the gravest of news.

Jacen and Jaina walked side by side as they entered the Temple with Nelani just behind them. Having last visited the Temple years ago, Jacen marvelled at the spectacular design with a level of interest that nobody else seemed to match. Supposedly based on the design of the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the grandeur was unmistakeable as a testament to the long lost period of the Old Republic and the longest lasting Jedi Order in modern history. Tall pillars, sprawling staircases, and long corridors of marble and gold provided aesthetics that had little to do with the pragmatic and simplistic values of the Jedi Order.

_Perhaps that is what Master Skywalker had wanted_, Jacen reflected. _A reminder that we're not worthy of such grandeur._

The procession of returning Jedi were joined by other Jedi Knights and Masters who were already at the Temple as they travelled on instinct until they found themselves at the highest peak of the Jedi Temple in the Council Chamber. Members of the Jedi Council automatically took their seats, leaving empty seats as a memorial to their friends who had fallen or who were not present. Luke Skywalker, Cilghal, Tionne Sulstar, Kam Sulstar, Kyp Durron, Octa Ramis, Lowbacca, Kyle Katarn and Kenth Hamner took their seats, leaving Streen, Kirana Ti, Mara Jade and Ben Skywalker, Jaden Korr, Jaina and Jacen Solo, Tyria Sarken-Tainer, Tresk Im'nel, Markre Medjev, Tekli, Chitter, Doran Tainer, Jysella Horn, Tiu Zax, Erinn Sorrin, Danni Quee, and Nelani Dinn standing around the outside perimeter of chairs. No one dared stand behind Luke, leaving a gap in the ring large enough that their Grand Master could see everyone without turning his back on anyone.

"Sanola Ti sends her regrets," Kirana Ti said of her niece, breaking the solemn silence. "She is on Dathomir preparing defenses against Krayt's army."

"Corran Horn, Leia Organa Solo and Tenel Ka are on Corellia, seeing to the safety and health of Han Solo," Jaina spoke up. Quizzical looks from most of the crowd were all but ignored by the twins as they locked eyes with their uncle.

Luke nodded and stood up, his face much older and grimmer than anyone had ever seen him, even in the height of the Yuuzhan Vong war.

"We're all that's left," Luke said. Everyone looked around at each other taking in the faces of their peers. "For the second time in far too short a history, the Jedi Order has been reduced to a handful of members. We're threatened again by an enemy that we do not seem to have a chance at defeating. Darth Krayt and his Bogan Empire are wiping us out just like Palpatine did.

"I don't know how to stop them. Their ships plough through our lines like nothing. Their warriors outnumber us a dozen to one and their numbers are growing every day as more planets are conquered. Even if we all fight together as one, I fear we will lose against even one of their fleets. All of our allies have been wiped out or are as defenceless as we are."

Luke looked down at the crest of a green and blue pair of crossed lightsabers embedded in the floor at his feet and exhaled heavily. When he looked back up, Jacen thought his uncle looked so weary that he was going to pass out from exhaustion.

"We must disband the Jedi Order if we are to save it," Luke said. "My friends, we have two paths before us. We can stay here on Sekot, or we can return to the galaxy at large and plant the seeds of rebellion. Find a new life. Disappear into the shadows. Live in discretion. And help as you can. If we coordinate our efforts through our allies, the Black Vornskrs, we can make a difference. You will need to shed your identities as Jedi, but more importantly, you need to _survive_. We still have a chance to undermine Krayt's empire. The legacy of the Jedi is now in the hands of each of you and it will be up to you to make sure that one day the Jedi Order will return by helping in the ways you deem best. This generation may not be able to defeat Krayt, but one day his Empire will fall just like Palpatine's did. We all carry the responsibility to make sure this will come to pass.

"You all came together at my call to learn the path and legacy of the Jedi. We all entered this temple today as the closest of friends, bonded together through years of training, battle, hardship, and the Force. Today, what you decide is up to you, but when we leave this sanctuary, we must leave as strangers for our own protection. Please take a few hours to meditate on the Force on your best path and come to me with your decision when you have made it."

Luke sat down and bowed his head in contemplation as everyone stood around in stunned silence, looking back and forth as if to see if their friends heard what they had heard. Kyle Katarn stepped forward.

"Luke, what about the Jedi Temple and the younglings?" he asked. "Wouldn't Sekot be a safe place for us?"

"Sekot has agreed to keep the Temple safe," Luke said. "Anyone who wants to stay behind can. It isn't safe out there, but I feel it isn't _right_ to stay here either."

Slowly, one by one, everyone looked around at each other absorbing Luke's words. As Luke's words sunk in, they all came to realize the grim fact that they all had no argument against the last Grand Master of the Jedi Order.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It was not until the doors clicked shut behind her that Jaina realized that there was a reason she had stayed in the Jedi Council chamber while everyone else filtered out. Luke gestured to Mara, Jacen, Jaina, Erinn and Ben to take seats in the chairs closest to him, with Ben filling in the space between Luke and Lowbacca.

"There is one last possibility," Luke said with a heavy heart.

"We need to _neutralize_ Darth Krayt," Jacen said, picking up on his uncle's trepidation. "Covertly."

Jaina and Ben looked at Jacen in disbelief, astounded that he would suggest such a thing, but Luke's quiet nod and distant gaze brought attention back to him.

Everyone sat in grim silence as they all ran through the very same thoughts. Krayt's fleet was impossible to defeat. He was heavily guarded at all times. Even without his legion of warriors surrounding him, he was individually as dangerous as any Sith Lord any of them had ever faced. Whatever mission they made against him was likely to be a suicide mission. But they all knew that it had to be done. Krayt was too dangerous.

"Dad's dying," Jaina finally blurted. Luke and Mara both looked up at her in shock. "He had a stroke. He is...he wants..."

"He wants to be with his family when its time," Jacen finished, wiping a tear from his cheek with the back of his hand. "I know how important it is to take out Krayt. Believe me, I know better than anyone. But Krayt can wait another day. Dad..."

Jacen's voice trailed off and the tears finally trickled down his cheeks. Lowie reached over and put a paw on his friend's shoulder, growling a few reassuring words.

"We'll leave for Corellia immediately after I talk to Octa," Luke said. "Is your ship ready?"

"She took a few good shots, but nothing that will slow us down," Jaina said. "We can do any remaining repairs in hyperspace."

[So, to be clear, we're going to do this?] Lowie barked. [Assassinate Darth Krayt.]

"No," Luke said. "Jacen knows how to permanently strip someone of the Force. He and I will neutralize him. You're not going anywhere near him. Lowie, I want you and Ben to help out on another mission as representatives of the Black Vornskrs. You're both too valuable to risk on a mission like this, and I want you to survive this conflict to help lead the Jedi Order when it is ready to be rebuilt."

Lowie grunted his acknowledgement, but Ben merely stared at his dad in surprise. It was the first time Luke had ever suggested he might have a hand in the future of the Jedi, and it caught him off guard.

"I don't think any of us are expendable at this point," Jacen said, mostly oblivious to his cousin's reaction, but stealing some of the light from his eyes. "But I think two of us will be too few to reach Krayt. A well-structured team has a stronger possibility of stopping Krayt. No offense to anyone here, but I suggest Eriana, Aunt Mara, Uncle Luke and myself are the most likely to survive. Aunt Mara, you have more experience sneaking in and out of anywhere than anyone I know, and the four of us are among the best duelists in the Order. If anyone has a chance of taking him out, it's us."

"You know, you can stop calling us Aunt and Uncle, especially when organizing a hit squad," Mara suggested. "You're not twelve anymore."

Jacen and Jaina both shared an embarrassed smile.

"I'd volunteer, but I'm pretty sure you'll want…" Jaina hesitated to choose her words, but decided to be blunt. "To separate Jacen and I in case things go wrong."

"Actually, I want you to do something else for me," Luke said. He gestured to the quiet girl sitting beside his niece. "I want you and Erinn to find Wedge. We'll need his ships if we have any hope of mopping up Krayt's fleets. Honestly, I think you have the more important mission. Lowie, Ben, I'd like you to go along with Jaina."

"We're in, too," Kyp's voice came from the door, drawing everyone's attention to him and Octa. "Sorry, I wanted to ask about Han, but you'll need more Jedi to take Krayt out. Every scrap of intel we've gathered has him surrounded by his warriors at all times. Four Jedi won't be enough."

"Octa," Luke gestured for the ever-miserable-looking woman to enter the chamber. "Can you locate him? Work with Lowie and his Vornskr contacts, and try to reach out to Talon Karrde. He still owes me a few favours. Try to locate Krayt and figure out a way we can get to him."

"Yes, Master Skywalker," Octa said with a slight bow.

"Please, just Luke," he said with a gentle smile. "We're all friends here now."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Long before reaching the hospital on Corellia the Solo-Skywalker clan sensed Leia's anger and grief through the Force. By the time they arrived, they found Tenel Ka hugging Leia as they both cried openly. Luke immediately relieved the former Queen of his sister and Tenel Ka ran to embrace Jacen just out of earshot of Leia.

"We came back in the morning and he was gone," she whispered, sniffing her nose. "The droid said he did not survive the night and was removed…and lost."

"Lost?" Jacen choked out, releasing Tenel Ka and looking into her eyes. "How did they lose him?"

The tears and shaking of her head told him the only answer he knew he would get. He transmitted what Tenel Ka had told him to his sister wordlessly over the twin bond, and she looked at him from across the room in Mara's arms with the same pained expression he knew he was looking at her with.

Han Solo, hero, friend, and father, was gone.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The days passed painfully for the Skywalker-Solo family as they coped with the loss of Han and the sad reality that life had to continue without him. Leia became so emotional that Luke, Mara and Jaina had to take turns keeping her company and focused on something other than wanting to find someone to blame for Han's unexpected disappearance and, as they discovered two days later, cremation. Despite her initial strength in supporting her mother-in-law, Tenel Ka relapsed into another bout of instability from the post-traumatic stress of her incarceration and Jacen spent every moment at her side easing her mind into recovering some semblance of control while fighting his own grief. Lowbacca, Ben, and Erinn took up caring for Anakin and Allaya, but the overall mood of the family was understandably distraught.

Two days after Han's death, a memorial was held in the _Millennium Falcon_ passenger area. Kyp, Lowbacca, the entire Solo-Skywalker family, R2-D2 and C-3PO stood in a small circle. Lowie had found a small round table to put a candle and Han's old DL-44 blaster on. Leia lit the candle and stepped back to her brother's side. Everyone watched the candle burn in silence until Kyp finally stepped forward.

"Han Solo saved my life," the tall dark-haired Jedi said. "He rescued me from a life of slavery in the mines of Kessel and brought me to discover the family I've always been looking for. He was the first person to show me that people could be trusted."

Kyp stepped back into the circle and Mara took a step forward.

"That man was a thorn in my side for years," Mara laughed, and a few others chuckled for a second as well. Mara noticed a small smile on Leia's face and bit her lower lip for a second before continuing. "But he welcomed me into the only family I've ever known. The only non-Jedi in a family of Jedi, he always found ways to surprise us and teach us that no matter how bad things get, he could always get this ship to jump to hyperspace or best us in a game of sabbacc."

Mara stepped back to the circle while everyone laughed again and switched spots with Luke. Luke took a step forward and placed a hand on Han's DL-44. His brow furrowed in contemplation as he stared into the candle as if it could provide him the words he was looking for.

"A long time ago Obi-Wan Kenobi and I walked into Mos Eisley's cantina and offered a spacer and his first mate seventeen thousand credits to get us from Tattoine to Alderaan," Luke said. "He was scruffier than a bantha, his ship looked like a piece of junk, and his only redeeming quality was that he travelled with a Wookiee. If someone told me that day that I had just met my future brother-in-law..."

Luke looked back at Leia and saw a sad smile on her face.

"I probably would've said 'I have a sister?'" Everyone chuckled and Luke waited a moment before continuing.

"We fought together in too many battles and wars over too many years. In the darkest hours his wit and sarcasm would inspire and drive us to persevere. He was a natural leader, and the best friend and brother anyone could ask for."

Luke retreated into a hug from his sister and continued to hold her as Jaina stepped forward.

"Dad taught me everything I know about how to strip down and rebuild a hyperdrive and fly circles around my uncle." A curious look from Luke caught her eye and she shrugged at him. "I'm still working on that last part.

"Raising Jedi couldn't have been easy for him. But he always found time for us. He taught us how to sneak cookies when mom wasn't looking and he would stay in and watch holovids with the family at least once a week. Whenever one of us wasn't kidnapped, that is. He brought us to the most fun places on Coruscant and always had the funniest looks of displeasure when Mom made us attend those horrible political dinners."

Jaina and Leia locked eyes for a second and they both laughed openly recounting the memories of Han in his formal military uniform listing dozens of reasons to _not_ be available.

"Dad worked as hard on the family as he did on the _Falcon_, and we all know how hard he worked on the _Falcon_. If we look at this ship, we see Dad everywhere. The way he jury-rigged the hyperdrive and everything a dozen times. If you look inside yourselves, you'll see that helped us the same way. Maybe it wasn't the best solution but whatever he did always seemed to work."

Jaina retreated to hug her Mom. After a few whispered words between them, Jacen stepped into the circle and placed a hand on the blaster on the table. He closed his eyes and touched the Force, smiling as if he had reached out and touched his dad's hand one last time.

"Dad taught me everything I know about how to strip down and rebuild a hyperdrive," Jacen said, getting the laughs he expected. "Thankfully Mom was a bit more successful in teaching me her trade. But Dad did teach me some of the most important things I ever learned. He taught me the importance of family and friends. He taught me right from wrong. He taught me how to be a strong person without being a bad person. I never got the chance to tell him this, but what he taught me saved my life when I was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. When I had to decide between what was right and wrong, the part of me from Dad, and all of you, was there. The part that reminded me to be a good person and to be true to myself. That part of him will always live with us."

Jacen retreated to Tenel Ka's side and took her hand, taking comfort in the gentle squeeze.

Leia finally stepped forward and also put her hand on the DL-44.

"The first time I met Han he was running down the detention cell of the Death Star firing a blaster over his shoulder, chasing my brother around trying to rescue me from the Empire against his will. Two minutes later we were in a garbage compactor almost getting crushed to death. Sufficed to say, he was the last person I ever expected to marry."

Leia looked at everyone around her in turn and locked eyes with her brother.

"I lost Alderann, my home, that day, but I also gained so much more," Leia said. "A brother and a future husband. Looking back at that first day I met Han I see it was the day that changed my entire life. That _he_ changed my entire life. And I'll always miss him."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The gentle hand on Jaina's shoulder spooked her enough that she jumped slightly off the ground, but she recognized her brother quickly enough to not bash his head in with her hydrospanner. They both looked at each other for a few moments recognizing the same look of exhausted tension they imagined was on their own face.

"All ready to go?" Jaina finally asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Jacen said. "Heading to Chiss space first?"

"That's the plan," Jaina said. "We'll see if the Chiss border patrols have noticed any giant Mandalorian battleships wandering by lately and go from there. I'm almost done the pre-flight. Mom's going to come with us. She..."

"We're all she has left," Jacen finished knowingly. "And I'm on a suicide mission to hunt down the next bad guy out there who wants us all dead. You're the safer place for her."

Jaina exhaled loudly and tossed the hydrospanner to the ground where it clattered across the floor in a weird wobble for a second before coming to a stop. "Why is it always our family? Why do _we_ have to be the ones in constant danger making other people's lives safe to live?"

"I wish I knew," Jacen said. He grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her into a hug. They squeezed each other as if it would be the last time, unsuccessfully fighting back tears.

"Please don't die on me," Jaina pleaded between sobs, her voice muffled against his shoulder. "Come home. Whatever you do, come home."

"You, too, sis," Jacen said. "Keep Mom safe."

They finally broke their hug and looked at each other for a few moments before Jacen smiled and backed away.

"I'll let you finish the pre-flight," Jacen said.

"Help me?" Jaina asked, her voice teeming with uncharacteristic vulnerability. "It's...umm... the first time I've ever flight-checked the _Falcon_ on my own."

Jacen smiled and put his right hand against the nearest section of armour plating on the old ship, looking at it as if it could conjure ghosts of the past. "Dad once said he'd never give me the codes to her."

"A good thing, too," Jaina joked. "You're the worst pilot in the family."

"Ouch," Jacen winced. "A worse pilot than my infant daughter. How did I sink so low?"

"Just make sure Uncle Luke does the flying on this mission," Jaina laughed and shook her head. "You've got a great ship. Don't beat her up."

"You, too, eh?" Jacen smiled back.

"You take the exhaust ports; I'll finish the landing struts."

"Gotcha," Jacen said. "Jaina?"

"Yeah?"

"He never said it, but I know Dad always wanted you to have the _Falcon_."

Jaina smiled and, too choked up to say anything, retrieved the hydrospanner from the ground with the Force and returned to her landing struts.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A/N: Probably one of the hardest chapters I've had to write. I realize this is a really depressing way to start a new story, but there's a very good reason for it. Trust me.


	5. Discovery

Thanks Onimiman :)

Sioux: just a reminder that the Jedi Temple was built on Coruscant, blasted off into space in _Face of the Enemy_, and was refit by the Remnant in _Dawn of Chaos_. It has been on the run for a while and has finally settled on Zonoma Sekot for now. And I thought I was going a bit slow easing y'all in! Writing the memorial wasn't easy...that kind of stuff never is, so I appreciate that you felt some value in it.

Chapter 3: Discovery [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The_ Solo Quest_ dropped out of hyperspace near the shattered moon of Kessel and looped around it on course to the Maw. Consisting of hundreds of black holes all in the same area of space, the Maw created plenty of gravetic and temporal anomalies to set off more alarms in Jacen Solo's head than lit up on the sensor suite behind him. Once housing the Empire's most top-secret research and development centre on a large asteroid facility deep behind a series of black holes, the Maw had remained empty for many years. Knowledge of the Maw base had become far too widespread for anyone to use it as a secret base anymore...unless they knew what Jacen knew. The last time Jacen had been this close to the Maw was approximately a hundred years in the future and he had his crack-pilot great-grandson flying. This time, he had most of his family with him. Anakin and Allaya were far too young to be of any help, and even if Tenel Ka was any bit a pilot, her mind was still fractured from the abuse she suffered during her kidnapping. Even though months had passed since her kidnapping and torture, she still woke up screaming in the middle of the night or curled into a ball crying at the slightest trigger. Even though he saw glimpses of the strong warrior underneath the psychological damage, such as when he told her about the mission to take out Krayt and she encouraged him to go, he worried that he would never again see the same Tenel Ka he married.

As the ship drew closer to the dark space of the Maw, Jacen reached out with the Force and let it guide him to the path leading to the old Imperial base. About twenty minutes later Jacen received a message through the Black Vornskr background radiation communication unit – a clever design of Lowbacca's to use variations of background cosmic radiation to communicate in locations where discretion was warranted. To any other sensor package it would look like the black holes were distorting the space around them. To this piece of equipment, affectionately called the BRCU, the radiation said "Transmit your authentication code."

Jacen removed his Black Vornskr Corusca gem ring from his finger and placed it in a spectral analysis unit on the BRCU. The ring glowed a faint purple for a second while it was scanned. A few moments later navigation instructions appeared, directing him to the landing bay on the old Imperial Maw Installation.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A stout angry-looking older man with a giant grey moustache greeted Jacen and Luke at the bottom of the boarding ramp of the _Solo Quest_. Without preamble, Jacen raised his right fist and activated the small holographic image of the Black Vornskr crest embedded into the Corusca ring. The older man displayed his gold ring and activated it in turn.

"So you're the abnormality we discovered," the man said, his angry demeanour all but vanished at the sight of Jacen's ring. "May I ask who you are?"

Jacen looked around the hanger to think for a second. He took in the activity of the hanger bay around him with some measure of interest. He noticed that nearly every ship was a fighter or troop transport – small ships that were, at most, three quarters the width of the _Solo Quest_. Everything looked heavily armed. Or, illegally armed, in some cases. He recognized at least one of the unorthodox modifications on an X-wing – quad particle accelerators instead of blasters. If the Bogan fleet decided to attack this location, it was in for a hell of a battle.

"You know who I am, Colonel," Jacen replied elusively. Despite the outfit Jacen took from his Dad's things that made him look like a smuggler, and the goatee he started growing a couple days before, only two rings like his own existed. Any true member of the Black Vornskrs knew to fear the wearers of those rings, or at least treat them with respect. At the same time, Jacen did not want to make unreasonable demands. "I need to contact Eriana immediately."

"Please follow me."

Jacen and Luke followed the colonel, who identified himself as Surs Klek, through the hallways and listened to a long narrative about the defenses the Vornskrs had put into this location. Most of the Vornskrs on this base were copper rings, the lowest rank, and were unaware of any Jedi ties to their pirate organization. Any Jedi that Jacen recognized around the base, like Kyle Katarn and Jaden Korr, were wearing casual clothing, more fit for pirating than defending galactic justice, and were given other rings to help them blend in. They practically ignored him, and they were granted the same courtesy.

Luke and Jacen eventually arrived in the main operations room, a giant circular room protected by a solid grey durasteel supported duracrete dome. Six evenly spaced hallways were connected to the room like spokes on a wheel leading to various areas of the base as indicated by a name over the archway. An outer walkway inside the dome surrounded a ring of technicians at computer terminals. In line with the six doorways were six paths toward the central area of the Ops room which consisted of a large holographic display of the Maw and every asset and ship within sensor range. Colonel Klek led the way around the outer walkway and proceeded down one of the corridors labelled 'Command,' stopping only to whisper a command in the ear of one of the technician. Through the door they found themselves in a small conference room alone with the Colonel.

"Eriana warned me you might show up," Klek said. "We'll have to fix that ring of yours if you're going to stay among the Vornskrs. I'll get my technicians to make up a Bronze for you. Keep that chunk of rock hidden from the regulars. We're not a Jedi base here, and we don't want to spook the lower ranks. Just seeing it creeps _me_ out, and I know who you are."

"I need to talk to Eriana."

"Yes, you said that," Klek said with a hint of irritation in his voice. "I've put the call out. She's a very busy person. She might be a few minutes. This terminal will activate when she calls in. The call will be secure."

"Thanks," Jacen said and sat on the conference table. "One more thing – I want a full set. Copper, Silver, Bronze, Gold and Platinum for myself and two friends. Give me another couple other coppers and silvers too."

"What do you think we are, a jewelry store?" Klek snorted his disapproval. "We don't even have Platinum blanks. If I issued a Gold or Platinum, she'd have my head on a platter."

"Let me worry about Eriana," Jacen said, holding up his fist with the glittering ring on it. "You can consider that an order from your CO."

Klek disappeared and Jacen smiled to his uncle.

"She runs a tight ship," Luke remarked, crossing his arms over the blue mechanic's jumpsuit he decided to wear as a disguise. "The Vornskrs are loading up with some impressive weaponry. Not even the Rebel Alliance had access to the type of hardware they're packing."

"That's the benefit of being a pirate organization, I suppose," Jacen said. "Ideally we'd like to turn it into the basis of a rebellion, but the pirates aren't much of freedom fighters. If we can use it to fund and equip a rebellion without them knowing, that'll be good enough to start."

"And I thought we were through with rebellions," Luke said sadly. "We lost so..."

"Hey, guys," Eriana's voice came from the wall terminal interrupting Luke. "I hear you're looking for me."

"Hi Eriana," Jacen said somberly. "I have some bad news to report."

Her face hardened and she nodded. He suspected that she already knew at least half of his report.

"Dad had a stroke and...he didn't make it," Jacen reported with a heavy heart. He waited for Eriana to absorb the news, but continued before she could say anything. "And the entire Hapes cluster has been destroyed too. I barely got out with Tenel Ka and the kids. I need somewhere safe for them, and I know the Maw base is safer than anywhere right now."

"Absolutely," Eriana said, her moment of shock passed. "I heard about Hapes. I'm glad you made it out with the family. I'll make arrangements for them in our most comfortable quarters. Will you be joining them?"

"No," Jacen said. "I need you to join _us_."

Eriana sighed and looked to her left at something off screen. Her eyes settled on Luke after she read something for a couple heartbeats. "You're going after Krayt."

"He needs to be stopped," Luke said. "If we're going to hit him, we may as well hit him hard with our best fighters."

"The team will be us, Mara, Kyp and Octa," Jacen continued. "I don't think anyone else has a chance of surviving. Kyp and Octa are gathering intel on Krayt and will join us when we have a plan."

"They won't find much," Eriana cautioned. "I've been scouring everything I can to find stuff on him. However, Karrde sent me a report this morning placing one Darth Krayt on his personal _Obsidian_-class destroyer en route to Telos. That's what they're calling the giant double parallelogram ships that destroy everything in their path. The Telosians are putting up a hell of a defense and they're expected to hold out for quite some time, so Krayt seems to want to lead his troops into battle himself. I should be able to sneak us onto Telos through the Vornskr network, but we'll need some way of getting onto his ship when it arrives. His ship left Coruscant yesterday, so we need to leave today to beat him there."

"I've asked Klek to issue me some extra Vornskr rings to help us blend in among the lower ranks of the Vornskrs without rousing suspicion."

"Good call," Eriana replied. "I think I'll do the same, but don't bother with the Platinum. There are only six of them and any more would create suspicion unless you're planning on showing up somewhere with an entire fleet."

"Good point," Jacen conceded. "When can we come over?"

"Any time," she said and turned to the Grand Master. "Luke, whatever you do, don't let him fly. The gauntlet makes the rest of the Maw look like a walk in the park."

Luke chuckled, but said nothing.

"It's not a joke," Eriana warned him. "I don't even fly it. How is Tenel Ka doing? Any better?"

Jacen just looked at her with sad eyes and sighed. "She has her moments."

"She's strong," Eriana reminded him. "She'll pull through. It'll just take time. Don't worry, there's nowhere safer than here."

Jacen nodded and, to Eriana, looked uncharacteristically weak and confused.

"We should, um, go find Klek and collect the rings," Jacen said. "Thank you. For everything."

"What are friends for?" Eriana asked. "Tell Klek to give you a larcy module, too."

"I will. See you soon."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The _Millennium Falcon_ gracefully slipped through the atmosphere of Csilla under the command of her new pilot, descending toward the coordinates provided by the air traffic controller. Jaina's journey to the Chiss homeworld involved many stops and searches by the notoriously thorough and precise Chiss border patrols. As instructed by Luke and Jacen, and constantly reminded by Danni, Jaina made sure to clearly state her intention to speak with the office of the Chiss Expansionary Defence Force intelligence division as a representative of the Jedi Council without dropping any names. Each ship captain and commander she encountered accepted her credentials and sent her along. Even though she knew they had called ahead to forewarn the next commander of their arrival, she was treated as indifferently as the first time the _Falcon_ was searched.

As the _Falcon_ neared the designated coordinates on the surface of Csilla, a pair of large doors hidden under the snow levered open to provide a safe berth out of the elements. Jaina gently eased the _Falcon_ into the berth, half expecting to hear the gut-wrenching sound of metal scraping as she landed her father's ship for the first time it was hers. The _Falcon_ settled onto the ground as if it was landing on a pillow, and Jaina finally exhaled the breath she did not realize she was holding.

"Are you going to do that every time you land the ship?" Erinn asked tentatively, still not sure how much she could joke around with her master. At seventeen years old, and having only been among the Jedi for a year, Erinn was still learning protocol that other Jedi her age were exposed to from a much earlier age. Her introverted nature often kept her apart from other Jedi students on the few occasions she had met them, and all of her training was being done by Jaina.

"I'm used to X-wings," Jaina protested, oblivious to Erinn's apprehension as she quickly ran through the shutdown procedure. "The _Falcon_'s a lot bigger."

The roof closed over the old YT-1300, casting the hanger bay into darkness until lights on the doors triggered on and illuminated the underground hanger with a soft blue glow. Two figures appeared at the entrance to tunnel at the corner of the hanger bay as Jaina finished powering the ship down, each in cold weather gear not too dissimilar to the outfits that she saw of her parents in from holos of when they were on the rebel base on Hoth. She grabbed her new LinkCom communicator from the charger on the dash, noted that the Chiss home world surprisingly had reception, and stuffed it into her pocket.

"How do you like the LinkCom?" Erinn asked. "That's the new one from Synergy Technology out in the corporate sector, right?"

"Yeah, it's nice," Jaina said as they exited the cockpit. "You can access the holonet almost anywhere. I don't know why they didn't think of it years ago. A graphical touch display to access data, having voice and written messages sent do your hand, a holoprojector to make calls, local maps that can tell you where you are, _and_ you can play games on it. It even has a holocam on it. It's brilliant. Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara got them when they saw mine. Jacen said he didn't want one. He said the data plan costs too much. He can be a real tightwad at times."

Jaina and Erinn found Ben, Danni, Leia, Lowbacca and Threepio waiting for them by the boarding ramp, and Leia held out two heavy jackets similar to the one she and Ben were already wearing.

"You'll want these," Leia said. Danni was wearing a heavy sweater with the letters CU embroidered on the front, and Lowie looked comfortable in his own fur and his syren belt. Erinn and Jaina took the jackets and put them on without question. When Jaina finally hit the button to lower the boarding ramp, a cold blast of air rushed in and seemed to cut its way directly to her bones despite the added insulation.

"Danni and I will go first," Jaina suggested, barely suppressing a shiver. They marched down the ramp together followed by Erinn and Leia, and finally Ben, Lowie, and 3PO brought up the rear. The two Chiss that Jaina had noted earlier were waiting for them a few metres from the bottom of the ramp. Their red eyes glowed under their hoods which otherwise hid their faces from view.

"I'm Jedi Master Jaina Solo representing the Jedi Council on a diplomatic mission," Jaina stated, even knowing that they likely knew why she was there. "We'd like to speak to Director of Fleet Intelligence."

"The Director has been notified of your approach. Please follow us," one of the Chiss said curtly and started back toward the tunnel. Jaina glanced back to see her mom activate the _Falcon's_ security system and the ramp start to close before setting after the two Chiss.

The tunnel itself flickered to life as soon as the party entered it. Immediately warmer inside, the Chiss removed their hoods and the Jedi unzipped their jackets. Force fields flickered on and off, following them as they walked through the tunnel, preserving the heat around them as they walked through the smooth tunnel bored through the ice centuries ago. The walls soaked in the blue lighting, giving the ice the reflective appearance of polished glass and allowing Jaina to see a ghostly image of herself staring back at her from inside the dark ice.

"So how soon can we see the Director of Fleet Intelligence?" Jaina asked as an uncomfortable silence stretched between them.

"When the Director is ready."

Exchanging glances with her mom, Jaina and Leia shrugged at the same time and made an unspoken agreement to not ask any more questions. Several minutes of walking in silence brought the party to a large underground dome that stretched up well over a hundred metres above their heads. Completely invisible to the outside world, the Chiss engineering marvel spanned over the incredible collection of beautiful cylindrical buildings towering above them, each one looking like a giant ice stalagmite stretching from the ground all the way to the dome that protected them from the frozen conditions of the planet above. Between the buildings flew many hovercars, skittering about their daily routines in neat orderly lines while people walked between the buildings.

"Here," one of the Chiss barked impatiently at the Jedi who were gawking at the city like stunned tourists. He pointed to a hovercar parked nearby and the group piled in. They all stared out the windows as they sailed between the tall buildings, marvelling at the simplistic beauty of the construction before them while Threepio inundated the silence with his fears about flying and questions about the structural soundness of the dome.

Before they knew it, the hovercar was landing in a docking bay about half way up one of the large bleak buildings and they were being ushered out of the hovercar.

"Three of you may go," one of the escorts said in a no-nonsense voice. "The rest must remain here."

"Can we bring the droid?" Jaina asked, gesturing to Threepio.

"'The droid?'" Threepio asked with an indignant tone. "Mistress Jaina, I protest your reference to me..."

"Only if he's quiet," the escort said, silencing Threepio.

Ben and I will stay here, Lowie offered.

"I'll stay," Danni said. "You guys go have fun."

Jaina shot her a look of annoyance – they all knew how "fun" the Chiss could be – and turned on her heel to follow their escorts.

They travelled through the hallways, all of which looked the same to Jaina as they trotted along. White doors and walls were accented with black tiled floors and door frames, each door evenly spaced down the length of the hallways that either curved to follow the shape of the large cylindrical building or ran straight like spokes on a wheel. The white doors were all adorned with the Chiss Fleet Intelligence logo and a title, but no names appeared on any of the doors.

At a door not unlike any other they had passed, the Chiss escorts stopped and stood on either side of it, silently taking up their positions without a word. Jaina translated the words "Director of Fleet Intelligence" on the door from her rudimentary knowledge of Cheunh and looked for a way to open it. Before she could ask, the door smoothly slid sideways, revealing the Director standing at the door.

"Hello, Jedi Knight Jaina Solo," Jagged Fel said. "What brings you to Csilla?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Klek escorted Jacen and Luke to the ring technician personally and gave her the order to issue one of each rank they had available to them. She was a cute, innocent-looking young human girl, maybe fifteen years old, but she knew her way through the computer system with deft ease and had all the rings prepared within ten minutes. Jacen felt a little bad about performing a memory rub on her to forget their interaction, but her black silver ring meant that she did not have the clearance to know anyone was authorized to have more than one rank amongst the Vornskrs. As they exited the technician's room he replaced the Corusca gem ring with the silver ring that denoted him as a Captain and told his uncle to put a bronze Major ring on. Together they found their way back to the _Solo Quest, _mostly by locking onto Mara and Tenel Ka's presences and homing in on them. The promised larcy module was waiting for him and, after loading it, they departed for Eriana's secondary base.

Heeding Eriana's advice, Jacen allowed his uncle to pilot the _Solo Quest_ through the gauntlet of tight black holes. The tense five minute journey at top speed ended with the _Quest_ bursting into a spiralled collection of fifteen thousand high-power turbolasers mounted together in a cylinder of potential destruction. Having transmitted the proper code, the turbolasers rested in standby mode and allowed the _Quest_ to pass. Coming out of the tunnel of turrets, the large asteroid with the hidden _Black Vornskr_ base came into view.

"It's impressive that they built all this using small ships to bring the parts in," Luke remarked. "No capital ship could ever get in here."

"The one place that Krayt's minions will never be able to touch," Jacen said. "Only Eriana's most trusted people even know about this location. Lowie told me that he and Ben put half this facility together themselves."

"The things your kids do when you aren't looking," Luke commented.

"Could be worse," Jacen said. "He could be doing deathsticks. Building secret bases in the war effort to usurp a Sith Lord seems a bit more...honourable."

Luke just rolled his eyes.

"Landing instructions are coming in," Jacen said and pointed at one spot on the asteroid. "Port seven. It's the one blinking yellow right there."

"Got it," Luke said and changed the ship's course. "It looks like they only have standard connection tubes for debarkation."

"Gravity interchanges would require a different setup," Jacen said. "It's a bit tricky going from ship to base, but easy enough if you know what to expect."

"I thought you hadn't been here before," Luke said curiously. He finally docked the ship against the designated port and activated the latching mechanisms.

"I went to a similar location not too long ago," Jacen said, avoiding the full truth of his time travel. "Basically the same setup. Bigger than this one."

Luke put the engines into standby and powered down most of the nonessential systems while Jacen went to the airlock and finalized the pressure equalization. When the pressure indication light changed from red to green he opened the hatch. At the same time, the docking tube hatch opened, blasting Jacen with cool, fresh air. He hopped from the deck toward the tube, easily adjusting his fall to land on his feet with the change in gravity. Eriana was waiting for him alone. She stepped forward and embraced him.

"I'm sorry about your dad," she whispered.

"Thanks," Jacen whispered back and released her. "Is everything ready for Tenel Ka?"

"Yeah, but we don't have much here in terms of luxury," Eriana admitted. "The biggest luxuries we have are a good air purifier, lots of turbolaser turrets, and a crack doctor."

"We'll take it," Jacen said. "Can you get away for a couple weeks?"

"The admirals can take care of things while I'm gone," Eriana said. "Don't worry, we're all anxious to see Krayt buried."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Jag?" Jaina blurted, all thoughts of their mission forgotten at the sight of the tall handsome man who had flown on her wing during the Yuuzhan Vong war. She blushed when her mind immediately rushed to the last time she had heard him use her full formal title - a _very_ informal celebration that had taken place in her bunk aboard Admiral Kef'rey's command ship right after the end of the war. "You're the Director of Fleet Intelligence?"

"This isn't a good time for stupid questions," Jag said loftily, ignoring her embarrassment. "Garkin, Horcha, please find our guests accommodations in the diplomatic suites at the _Bsetahah K'un'cin'i._ I'll visit when I'm free."

"Yes, sir," one of the escorts said - Jaina could not tell if it was Garken or Horcha – and the door slammed shut in Jaina's face.

"But..." Jaina sputtered, barely noticing that Leia had taken her hand and was pulling her along the hallway following one of their escorts. It took until they were half way to their ride that Jaina recovered the ability to speak.

"How could he do that to us?" Jaina finally asked.

"It was a pretty high level meeting we were interrupting," Leia said as quietly as she could, even though she knew their escorts were monitoring every word. "He'll come to us when he's ready."

"I think a better question is," Erinn smirked. "How could you have slept with that guy? He's colder than Hoth."

Jaina whipped around and looked at her apprentice with horrified anger, startling Erinn, but Leia's unsuccessful attempt to hide a laugh behind her left hand caught Jaina off guard. She turned to snap at her mom, but she noticed that the two escorts were also laughing at her expense, finally having broken their stoic fascias. Only Threepio's look of ever-puzzlement saved Jaina a shred of her dignity.

"He's not that bad," Jaina snapped, her face turning bright red. She turned around and marched past the escort, deciding to lead the way back to the hanger as quickly as possible.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


	6. Information

Chapter 3 - Discovery [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Telos IV, often referred to the Coruscant of the outer rim, was another planet with a city covering almost the entire surface. Unlike Coruscant, Telos still retained large forests and plains, and even the frozen polar caps. Being an ancient planet, and a relatively rich one by galactic standards, the cities of Telos enjoyed some of the best planetary shielding the Republic had to offer, including many overlapping Nyalsan X platforms. Despite the superlaser-equipped Bogan _Obsidian_-class Destroyer and a fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers constantly barraging the planetary defences, Telos's shields remained resolute in defending the vast cities.

The shields, despite their strength, were not without variance. Several holes existed between the overlaps in the shield grids and skilled pilots with knowledge of the overlaps could slip through the gaps. With pilots so skilled, the Black Vornskrs had fed supplies to the starving rebellion to prepare them for the eventual planetary assault of Darth Krayt's forces. While most shipments included weapons, medical supplies, and defensive materials, one particular shipment included three Jedi Masters, a former Jensaarai Defender and two droids.

Dressed in civilian clothes and, for everyone except Eriana, disguises, the Jedi departed their shuttle with R2-D2 and HK-47 in tow following the Telosian Black Vornskr pilot. They took his direction to connect to the local Telosian resistance cell and how to identify themselves before parting company.

They piled into an Argath line tram at the spaceport stop and travelled along it for ten minutes in silence until they reached GlazGra station, a little used station on the outskirts of town. On the cue of the doors opening, Jacen and Eriana took HK-47 and led the way out of the station, heading north while Luke and Mara followed R2-D2 east out of the station.

With the attack looming overhead, the residential area they found themselves in was practically deserted. On their way to the designated warehouse on the outskirts of the area, Eriana and Jacen passed several groups of what they figured were street gangs based on their angry looks of defiance. Most of them sized up the outsiders with a passing level of interest as if trying to determine whether any value could be had from attacking, but some well placed mind tricks reaffirming the worthlessness of the outsiders kept the Jedi safe from attack. About a kilometre from their destination, they happened upon a small gang led by a human and a Devaronian, and Eriana grabbed Jacen's arm.

"What is it?" Jacen asked.

"Do you recognize them?" Eriana asked, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Those guys, right there."

"Do you know them?"

"What happened the last time we were on Telos?"

Jacen glanced at the human again, this time taking a good look at the glittering false teeth in the mouth of the human leading the group. If what Eriana was trying to tell him was right, those false teeth were replacing some that had been removed by her elbow.

"No," Jacen said. "You've _got_ to be kidding. Those are the same guys that jumped you?"

"Looks like they're building their business interests," Eriana said. "More goons to scare."

"We can't," Jacen grabbed her hand. "We have to minimize how many people know we're here."

"Alright," Eriana said reluctantly and resumed their walk. "But avoiding breaking up street gangs will be addressed in your quarterly performance report."

About fifteen minutes later they arrived at the warehouse and walked up to the entrance, per the plan. Jacen knocked on the door three times and stepped back, his mind caressing the lightsaber hidden in his jacket should he need to use it.

"Friendship is never lost," an expectant voice stated from behind the door.

"It is only thrown away," Jacen completed the quote from one of his favourite novels.

The door opened to reveal a dark room. Within the darkness Jacen could sense about forty beings hiding, and he could feel the aim of at least a dozen blasters crawling across his skin.

"Warning: I sense many sentients in the darkness," HK-47 said. "Prepare for combat."

"We are the leaders of the Black Vornskrs," Jacen said, ignoring his droid. "Put your weapons away and turn on the lights."

The tension in the air increased and there was stirring from the hidden people.

"You are in no position to negotiate, so-called leaders of the Black Vornskrs," a gruff woman's voice responded. "Prove your identity."

Jacen and Eriana raised their right hands and activated their identical Corusca rings, amplifying the light of the projected logo to illuminate the room. Most of the sentients covered their eyes to avoid the brightness, and a few seconds later someone turned the lights on. Jacen identified many humans, eight Gands, an Ithorian, fourteen Rodians, and a Wookiee. A human woman approached them with a sense of authority, leaving little question of who was in charge.

"My apologies for the theatrics," she said, holding out a hand. Jacen noted the gold ring on her hand, but neither of them accepted it. "Tonya Kor'va."

"Identify yourself properly," Eriana ordered. Tonya complied, and the Black Vornskr logo flashed briefly on her ring.

"Good," Jacen said, finally shaking her hand. As Eriana shook Tonya's hand, Jacen sent a telepathic pulse to his uncle to let them know it was safe. "We have two more operatives that will join us presently."

At that moment the door opened to reveal the two Jedi Masters and R2-D2, and all six of them followed Tonya to a quiet corner of the facility where they found Kyp and Octa sitting side-by-side on an old wooden crate. Four of Tonya's silver-ringed operatives followed them and took seats on some more of the dusty old wooden crates set up in a semi-circular pattern around a larger crate that was acting as a makeshift table. Tonya activated an old lantern hanging a metre and a half above the table with a remote control from her pocket and gestured for the new arrivals to take a seat on the unoccupied crates. HK-47 and Artoo rested off to the side, sensors alert to maintain the privacy of the meeting while each taking their own recording as ordered before they had left the ship. Tonya herself remained standing, leaning on the table with both palms flat on the table. The lantern light cast shadows on her face that made her appear grim and angry, but Jacen sensed only determination and a bit of annoyance radiating from her.

"Very little of your mission has been explained to us by your friends here," Tonya said, gesturing to Kyp and Octa. "If I'm going to be putting my people into danger, I need details."

"Our plan is to have a section of the shielding dropped," Eriana said. "Preferably somewhere that won't risk too much collateral damage but is close enough to something juicy so they land troops. We'll coordinate the efforts of the defence force covertly to bring a heavy assault onto the ground troops, but we need them to escape."

Looks of confusion were shared between Tonya and her four captains.

"I thought we would want to wipe out the enemy," Tonya said.

"No," Luke replied. "Your goal will be to protect Telos. Our goal is to get onto their command ship."

"After we take out Krayt, we'll blow it up and jump ship," Eriana continued. "You and your people will forget we were ever here."

"Why would the leaders of the Black Vornskrs be leading a mission onto a Bogan command ship?" Tonya asked. "You've got to be crazier than the Jedi."

"Our information suggests the Jedi are all gone," Jacen said. "And the less you know the better off we'll all be. Plausible deniability, I believe they call it. Now, you have your orders – plan the ambush and forget about us."

"Then we should find the best place for an ambush," Tonya said. She pulled the remote from her pocket and pressed another button, activating a second mode on the lantern that spread a holographic map of Telos over the table. "Anything in mind?"

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

While Jaina had locked herself in her room as soon as they arrived at the hotel, and Lowbacca worked on some Force exercises with Ben in their room, Leia and Erinn brought Danni up on the events at Jag's office over a pot of tea in the relatively ornate sitting area of the suite. Taking up almost half the floor of the hotel, the suite they were put in offered plenty of room and beautiful old-fashioned furniture that seemed both out of place and appropriate in the traditional Chiss society.

"You shouldn't have said that," Leia said to Erinn. "Jaina's always had a soft spot for Jag."

"I tend to talk before thinking," Erinn admitted, blushing and looking down into her tea cup in the disarming way only an embarrassed seventeen year old girl could. "I guess I'm not really cut out as a Jedi."

"Nonsense," Danni said with a warm smile. "You're still twice the Jedi I'll ever be. And you have to admit, that was pretty damn funny."

Danni's comment earned her a scolding look from Leia that did not have any effect on her target. Danni merely took another sip of her tea and winked at Erinn.

"You knew it was Jag," Leia accused Danni. "You never told us."

"Nobody asked," Danni admitted without a hint of remorse, setting the tea cup back on its saucer on the table in front of her. "Nobody seems to pay much attention to me, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

Danni looked up at Leia's concerned face with a flicker of annoyance. "You really don't know, do you?"

The blank stare she got answered her question.

"When the war ended, where was I left? On Zonoma Sekot. The place the Jedi Order left the misfits who weren't good enough to be Jedi Knights to explore what they didn't need to know. They pushed me out of the Order on the guise of a _wonderful_ research opportunity promising the chance to get in on groundbreaking new studies. And after almost ten years there...what? _Nothing_.

"No Jedi Masters to teach us the ways of the Force. Nobody has used anything that we learned about Vong biotech for _anything_ except for Lowbacca's plasma weapon and Lando's failed suit experiment. None of the medicine or bio implants or cloning technologies or anything! We learned ways to create perfect replicas of human body parts that would replace mechanical prosthetics and _nobody cared_. We could have made the Jedi a fortune with the technology we developed so they could fund a thousand wars against the Bogans, and they didn't even look at the reports of what we were doing there. We could have been inciting a rebellion for all they knew. I left Zonoma Sekot for at least one week a month to come to Csilla and _nobody noticed!_ One time I was gone for six whole months and didn't get a single message from the Jedi Order about missed progress reports. Pellaeon was the only person that seemed to remember that I was his friend and would drop me messages to see how I was doing."

Danni sipped her tea and took a moment to collect her thoughts as the two other women sat there in stunned silence at her rant.

"I'm sorry," Danni said miserably. "I shouldn't be taking this out on you."

"Why didn't you request a transfer?" Leia asked. "Or someone to train you?"

"Because," Danni's green eyes trailed to the door. "It gave me the latitude for me to keep coming here."

"But..." Leia's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door and a look of comprehension came across her face as Danni shot up and crossed the ornate room to activate the door release. Jag appeared at the door, smiling briefly at Danni before walking further in to greet Leia.

"Ambassador Solo, I was sorry to hear about the loss of your husband," Jag said stiffly, yet still managed to convey his empathy. "Han was a great man, a true inspiration to us all."

"Thank you," Leia said, trying to maintain her composure with the still-fresh loss weighing on her heart. "Jag, we need your help."

Jaina chose that moment to reappear. The look on her face told Jag that she was not yet ready to forgive him for his earlier rudeness, but was willing to get some answers from him.

"I surmised as much," Jag said. "I'm surprised the Jedi sent such a large contingent. First, I want to apologize for my earlier behaviour. I had a visitor in my office who wished to remain anonymous. What can I do for you?"

"Where's Wedge?" Jaina snapped, a bit harsher than she had intended.

"Wedge escaped with a sizeable fleet to avoid Krayt's new ships," Danni explained in a much softer tone. "We've been trying to find him to coordinate our efforts against Krayt. We figured he went into the unknown regions."

"How big a fleet do you think he took?"

"About eight thousand capital ships," Leia said. "Plus support craft."

"Then it's highly unlikely he's out here," Jag said, taking a seat in the middle of the couch that Danni had been laying on a minute earlier and she sat down beside him. A pensive furrow crossed his brow as he thought about the reports that had crossed his desk. "We would've noticed a fleet that big travelling through Chiss space, but we do only have about seventy percent of the region under our control or observation. The other thirty is unmonitored by us."

"So he could still be out here," Jaina concluded.

"It is _possible_, but doubt it," Jag said, looking up at her. "Chiss space wanders quite erratically based on systems that are of interest, and that is constantly fluctuating. Unless Wedge had accurate star maps of Chiss space, or he took out the Ssi-Ruuk without our knowledge – which he hasn't, based on the report I read an hour ago – I don't think even he could move a fleet through the unknown regions without us noticing."

"Krayt is suspected to have a shipyard in the Unknown Regions," Danni said. "He got a small fleet of massive ships out from under your noses."

"Eight ships would be a lot easier to sneak past our patrols compared to eight _thousand_," Jag said rather gently.

Jag stood up suddenly and took two steps toward the door before turning around. "I'm sorry I can't be more help, but I'd like to invite you for dinner tonight."

"You've saved us a lot of work," Leia said gratefully as she stood up. "We'd be honoured to join you."

With a quick nod, Jag disappeared and left the four women alone.

"Anyone get the sense he's hiding something?" Jaina asked with ample sarcasm before disappearing back to her room.

Danni picked up her tea cup again, trying to ignore a penetrating glare from Leia_._

"He _is_ kinda cute once you get to know him," Erinn finally said, still looking at the door. She looked back at Danni and shrugged. "I'd do him."

"Let's not go there," Danni said, hiding her smile behind her tea cup as she took a sip.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

With frightening efficiency, mere seconds after power was transferred away from the shield emitters across the Rothac plains, drop ships spewed out of Darth Krayt's massive black ship hovering above in orbit. Several dozen of the miniature versions of the giant double-parallelogram ships streamed through the atmosphere at full throttle and landed in the valley forming a giant ring, noses pointed outward, to create a defensive parameter. The ships combined their shield power to establish a defensive barrier and cement their foothold. On cue, members of the Telos resistance launched their attack on the defensive ring using hidden squadrons of X-wings and B-wings to harass the invading troop transports and cover a ground assault of a hundred previously hidden heavy tanks.

The fleet of drop ships lifted off the ground in unison and travelled in formation, slowly moving across the ground toward the approaching Telosian tanks while shrugging off the offending laser fire from the starfighters with their powerful shields. Once in range, the tanks opened fire, unleashing their heavy artillery and battering the ships in an impressive display of explosions that forced the drop ships to land and refocus their engine power into their shields and weapons.

"They're in position," Jacen said, staring at the small datapad in his hand. "Frankly, I don't know how we haven't been blown up or detected yet."

"The Telosians seem to know their stuff," Mara said approvingly. "Ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Jacen said. He shut off the datapad, put it on a crate beside him and looked around the reinforced duracrete bunker at the other occupants. Like himself, Mara, Luke, Kyp, Octa and Eriana were wearing the modified armoured Jedi combat uniforms designed to protect without restricting their movement and look like the ground trooper uniforms of the Bogan soldiers. The explosions shook the ground around them, but their faces wore identical looks of resolve as they put their helmets on and picked up their blaster rifles. A quick nod from everyone and Jacen looked to Mara. "Detonate."

"Fire in the hole," Mara said quietly and pressed the button on the console beside her.

If the explosions from the heavy artillery shook the bunker, Mara's explosives made the occupants feel like beads in a toddler's rattler. Loud explosions echoed above, mostly blocked by the protective helmets, and when the first round stopped Luke and Kyp pushed the heavy durasteel top off the bunker with the Force and the Jedi jumped to the ground, blasters at the ready.

The remains of over a dozen drop ships surrounded the bunker, cries of agony emanating from the twisted black hulls that were ravaged by the explosives that had been planted around the hidden bunker. Together the Jedi raced toward one of the ships that were less damaged and extracted some of the solders that were screaming in agony. While most of them had been nearly obliterated by the explosions, they found two that were only missing legs and one missing an arm. Jacen, Luke and Kyp picked up the injured soldiers, leaving Mara to squeeze a button built into the butt end of her blaster rifle. Another explosion sent up a ball of fire, demolishing all evidence of their bunker, and they ran toward the nearest intact drop ship. Eriana and Octa waved their arms for attention and the group raced toward the lowering ramp. They piled into the cramped drop ship as the ramp closed up and felt the ship twist in the air and accelerate toward the sky. Luke, Jacen and Kyp surrendered their injured soldiers to the ship medic and they all found any spot they could to hold onto as the ship bounced its way out of the Telosian atmosphere. Jacen looked at his fellow Jedi and knew, behind their dark masks, they were all thinking the same thing: As long as the X-wings and B-wings called off pursuit, the first part of the mission went off without a hitch.


	7. Descent

Sioux - Nailed it ;) Yeah, it's like Apple came to the SW universe. They really need a device like that. Wait till you see what I have her do with it in chapter 13 ;) Danni's sweater is fixed - I couldn't remember how to put it. The ships came from when the Jedi Order split from the GA back in Dawn of Chaos. Wedge took a third of the fleet and defected, the rest stayed with Soora.

Onimi - wait till you see the next two :)

A/N: on Onimi's suggestion, I've reordered the chapter a bit. It does read better this way. Thanks Onimi :)

Chapter 5 - Descent [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina's miserable mood continued well into the evening as they arrived at the Fel residence, a beautiful short building on its own near the edges of the dome. As was explained by the uncharacteristically chatty driver that picked them up in a hovercar, the houses on the outskirts were reserved for the most prominent members of Chiss society, like Baron Soontir Fel. The second the party of Jedi stepped into the front hall, Jaina understood why. Large portraits of members of the Fel family hung on the white walls of the cavernous circular entrance way that reached up to the top of the house. The ceiling showed what Jaina suspected would be the star patterns high above them glittering high above. Two red-carpeted stairwells hugged the curved walls meeting at a landing at the second floor with an ornate golden handrail accenting the regal colours of the room. And here Jaina was surrounded by the ostentatious environment in her least-worn Jedi robes with a Wookiee, her mom, two teenagers, and a blonde astrophysicist in a University of Commenor hoodie as her dates.

"Danni!" a shout resounded from the top of the stairs and a streak of blond hair came rushing down to tackle-hug the scientist. They both laughed as Danni almost fell backwards against the door and steadied herself against the hug. "Jag didn't even tell us you were coming!"

Jaina looked at the girl, who was probably about twenty five, with a mixture of annoyance and confusion. How did _Danni_ get that kind of greeting from Jag's sister?

"I wanted it to be a surprise, Wyn," Jag said, appearing from another room to the right with a grin from ear to ear. Wearing his formal military uniform, aside from the stripe of grey hair over his eye, he looked every bit the perfect military man Jaina remembered from the war. "Everyone, this is my sister Wynssa. Wyn, our guests are Jedi Masters Leia Organa and Jaina Solo, Jedi Master Lowbacca, and Jedi Apprentices Erinn Sorinn and Ben Skywalker. Everyone, welcome to the Fel Residence. Please come this way."

Jag led them through two large ornate ostentatiously decorated sitting rooms, apologizing for the absence of his parents while Wyn chattered with Danni about her flying lessons and the challenges of learning to become a medvac pilot.

Jag finally opened another ornate double door so tall that Jaina could have stood on Lowie's shoulders and not reached the top of the frame, and gestured for them to enter.

"Please have a seat and the food will be right out. I'd also like to introduce our other guest of honour..."

"Prince Isolder," Leia smiled warmly as the Hapan Prince came into view and stood up, surprising Jaina and the other Jedi. "I thought I sensed your presence in Jag's office."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Despite a five course meal and being surrounded by friends and family, Jaina had a hard time ditching her foul mood. Leia and Lowbacca easily kept Isolder company sitting on either side of him at one end of the table to discuss the potential of recovery of the Hapan people, with Threepio translating Shyriiwook for Isolder. Jag sat at the other head of the table opposite Isolder, with Danni on his left chatting with him and Wynssa about her research and their current assignments like she was a member of the family. Ben and Erinn talked awkwardly between each other at the middle of the table, both feeling somewhat left out but with nobody else near their age to talk to. Despite sitting in a room full of friends and family having a great time together, and sitting beside Jag, Jaina could not help but feel out of place.

_This is Jag,_ Jaina chided herself. _Sure you haven't seen him in years, but just_ _say something._

"So, Jag," Jaina finally said around a mouthful of her dessert. "You're no longer in the cockpit."

"I wanted something a bit more ground based," Jag admitted, swirling the dessert wine around his glass. "I still teach a hands-on class on starfighter battle tactics twice a week. After the war the government decided to keep some of the better skilled pilots closer to home to pass on knowledge."

"Makes sense," Jaina said. "But you still know I can fly circles around you."

"Sure," Jag said evasively, taking a sip of his wine instead of her bait.

"Are you still interested in me?" Jaina asked and Jag coughed, almost spraying his wine across the table and bringing everyone's attention to the two of them.

"What? You don't know?" Wyn demanded, oblivious to the panicked wide-eyed look she was getting from Danni. A horrible shock went through Jaina's system as the truth hit her a second before Wyn could say it. "He's engaged to Danni!"

Jaina looked around the room and saw Erinn and Ben's jaws wide open, Leia with a grim smile, Wyn looking like a kid on lifeday staring at a package of presents, and mirrored looks of embarrassed guilt on Danni and Jag's faces. Isolder alone looked completely impassive, and Lowie uttered something about the male offspring of a female canine that quite accurately covered Jaina's thoughts.

"Jaina," both Danni and Jag tried saying at the same time, but Jaina stood up suddenly, her chair screeching across the wooden floor. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at them with a mixture of despair and pain as her bottom lip trembled.

"Y-You knew he was the one we were looking for, and you didn't even bother to tell us? We could've done this over a holonet call, but we came all this way because you wanted to see your _boytoy_?" Jaina demanded of Danni. She then turned to Jag. "And you didn't think _I'd_ want to know about this? Did I mean _nothing_ to you?"

Jaina ran out of the dining room and before she reached the icy outdoors tears were already streaming down her face.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Leia found the crying, shivering mess of her daughter sitting on the front steps of the Fel house and gently placed a warm coat around her shoulders. Jaina barely seemed to notice, but did not object when Leia sat down beside her, taking Jaina's left hand in both of hers.

"You knew," Jaina accused between sobs, balling her hand into a fist.

"I suspected," Leia admitted. "But not until Jag visited us at the hotel today."

"I made an idiot of myself," Jaina sniffed, wiping her right eye with the back of her hand.

"Jaina, you haven't seen Jag in years," Leia said as gently as she could, knowing full well it was not what Jaina wanted to hear. "You're thirty two years old, and he's thirty four. Did you really expect him to wait for you forever?"

Jaina pulled her hand free and tugged the jacket around her tighter, as if the fluffy warm material could protect her from admitting the miserable truth they both knew she knew. She was so much like her father, right down to her fear of commitment.

"I know you don't hate them," Leia continued. "Danni had her reasons for not telling us."

"She could've saved us valuable time…"

"Yes, she could have," Leia admitted. "But she knew she would've put Jag in a very difficult spot. In Chiss society, giving out information improperly is considered treason. She kept the truth from us to protect him. And protect us. If he did send us information and the government discovered it, they would sever ties with the Jedi and execute him. We can't lose what shaky friendship we have with the Chiss at this time. Our allies are too few and far between right now."

Jaina wiped more tears, this time from both eyes, and sniffed her nose, but remained silent. She stared into the distance at the glowing lights on the hovercars speeding through the tall towers of the underground city with her mind caught somewhere between blank nothingness and jumbled thoughts about Jag, her friends laughing at her, her dad, needing to check the port power couplings in the _Falcon_, Danni betraying her, and some stray thoughts about how to improve energy efficiency in her lightsaber.

"We've all lost people we care about," Leia said, wiping a tear of her own from her cheek. "We should be grateful for the ones we still have with us."

Leia put her arms around Jaina and squeezed her gently before retreating back into the house. While lost in her thoughts staring at the lights in the distance, Jaina barely noticed when Jag sat down beside her and they both waited in silence. About five minutes passed where they sat watching the lights, each wondering what the other was going to say.

"I don't blame you," Jaina finally broke the silence. "I just wish you told me. Then I wouldn't…you know…"

"Keep hoping?" Jag finished. "Yeah, but I figured after you didn't call for five years…"

"Fair enough," Jaina said. "But, Danni?"

Jag laughed softly. "I didn't even see it coming. Neither of us did. After the war she kept visiting Wyn every month or so. They were closer friends than I had realized. She became like an older sister in the family. And one time she came by when Wyn wasn't around, but I was free that night and…"

Jaina smacked his arm and glared at him with a look that could melt durasteel.

"Nothing like that!" Jag exclaimed innocently, rubbing his arm at the impact point. "You really know how to hold a grudge, don't you? We went out for dinner and really enjoyed each other's company. The next time she visited we went for lunch. It started becoming a bit of a tradition where she'd come to visit my sister, and we'd meet up for a meal at some point. It took about three years before we both realized that our meals together were the closest things either of us were having to real dates and…things just started working out well."

"That's why you took the desk job," Jaina said. "Safer, more stable."

"Yeah."

"So now what?"

Jag grimaced slightly and took Jaina's hand in his, discretely slipping a data card into her hand. Jaina looked down and saw a sapphire ring she had not noticed earlier glowing faintly for a second.

"I wish I could help you," Jag said, turning to face her and tugging on her hands until she forced herself to look into his green eyes. "But giving information of certain sorts to outsiders is treason to the Chiss Ruling Council. I want you to promise me you won't hold anything Danni did against her. She was only trying to protect me."

"I…" Jaina looked away and pulled her hands from Jag's, slipping them into her jacket where she safely stowed the data card in her pocket. "I have no right to be upset with anyone but myself."

"Jaina…"

"I want to go back to the hotel." Jaina stood up and fastened her jacket together. "Now."

Jag stood up and looked down at her, surprised by the pain he saw in her brandy brown eyes as she avoided his gaze. He finally nodded.

"I'll have a driver sent around."

Jaina nodded and turned her back to him. He hesitated for a moment before going back into the house.

"You should know, at one time, you meant the galaxy to me."

Jag finally walked away, trying to ignore the sobs of the girl he once wanted to marry.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Having been the only apparent surviving members of an entire destroyed drop ship, the Jedi were able to escape having to check in with anyone upon arriving on Krayt's command ship. They disembarked from the crowded drop ship into a huge hanger bay that stretched nearly a kilometre to either side, broken up only by large transparisteel walls that partially blocked the view of the giant dull grey expanse. Luke noticed fighters on either side of the drop ships, absently noting the advantage of having drop ships covered from both sides immediately upon launch and wondered why the fighters were not launched with the drop ships in their failed raid. Racks suspended from the ceiling provided a second layer of storage for fighters and catwalks connected the racks to the interior wall of the hanger bay.

"Focus, farmboy," Mara whispered and nudged him as they followed the rest of the soldiers streaming out of the hanger.

"I'm gathering intel," Luke whispered back defensively, but focused his attention on not trying to be so obvious about it.

They marched through a double-wide door into a very wide hallway that two load lifters could drive down side-by-side. The troopers fell to the right side and they followed in formation until they reached a bank of cylindrical turbolift doors half embedded into the walls. While their unwitting guides took one lift, the Jedi waited for an empty one to arrive and piled into it. Jacen used one of his unusual skills to stop the video feed of the camera and Luke used the Force to lift Mara up so she could open the hatch at the top. With a faint metallic whine, the hatch lifted and swung away. A blast of air entered the lift compartment and the Jedi quickly worked against it to get on top of the lift car and brace themselves with the Force. After Luke levitated Jacen up, Mara closed the hatch and Luke settled his nephew on top of the hatch.

"Camera's back on," Jacen shouted over the wind. "I set the lift for the tenth floor. Intel suggests Kraty's quarters are between decks nine and eleven."

Close to a minute later the lift slowed and the Jedi came up level with the door to the ninth floor. They removed their helmets and tied them and their blaster rifles to the lift pod with some rope they brought. A quick scan in the Force showed the hallway to be deserted, so Luke Forced the doors open. They slipped into the hallway, extracted their lightsabers, and proceeded through the dark grey hallways. Unlike the areas closer to the hanger bay, these hallways were darker and narrow.

"There should be a data terminal," Octa said. "I hope that device your droid made works."

"Bash it if it fails," Jacen suggested. "Not before."

Eriana poked her head around a corner and then proceeded down it when it was clear. With Eriana leading the group and Jacen hiding their presences in the Force, the rest of them examined the red plates embedded into the walls at eye level beside each door frame, noting that almost all of them said "Supplies," "Weapons," "Quarters," or "Storage."

"Here," Luke said, pointing to one of the plates. "Security Substation Nine Besh."

"That'll do nicely," Octa said. She examined the keypad and let her fingers hover over the numbers, drawing on the Force for guidance. She suddenly hammered four buttons with her index finger and the door clicked open. Before she could proceed, Jacen put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let us," he whispered and disappeared into the room with Eriana right behind him.

Luke looked at Mara, who shrugged and pulled out her lightsaber. As Mara reached to push the door open, Jacen opened it from inside.

"Quickly," Jacen gestured to them and they entered the security substation. Luke was last to enter the room and behind the Jedi he saw three unconscious officers being bound and gagged by Eriana. By the time he looked up at the bank of computer monitors lining one of the walls, Octa had already plugged the module supplied to them by HK-47 into the astromech computer socket and the droid's rusty-red face appeared on one of the monitors.

"Announcement: HK-47 reporting in, meatbags," HK-47 said. An insistent chirp echoed through the connection and HK-47's eyes flashed. "The subspace connection appears to be working at full reception and Artoo has access to the entire network."

"Excellent," Octa said. "Minimize your data usage to reduce the chances of being detected for now."

"Belligerent reply: I am aware of how to hack a computer system discretely, meatbag," HK-47 replied. "Query: May I speak to the master? Your condescending remarks are activating my assassination protocols."

Luke, Mara, Kyp and Octa all turned to Jacen and spoke in unison. "Assassination protocols?"

Jacen ignored their question and stepped forward. "HK, access the cameras and look for Darth Krayt. Also, see if you can pull up a schematic of this ship. Please download it for your reference as well. We may as well extract whatever intel we can. We may not get another chance like this."

A wireframe image of the ship appeared on one of the displays to everyone's left displaying all of the hallways, infrastructure, and major points of ship operation. They all studied it in silence as HK-47 and Artoo perused the camera feeds from around the ship.

"Here," HK-47 finally said. "We have located the target."

A green dot appeared on the wire-frame display and a line connected their location to his. They were about a kilometre away and two floors up from Krayt's location.

"Find us the easiest route that is least populated," Jacen ordered. "We should avoid people if we can."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

When Jacen had requested the least populated route to Darth Krayt's location he did not expect to be crawling and shimmying through air ducts for over eight hundred metres, but when he silently dropped into the long, dark room occupied at the far end solely by Darth Krayt, he felt the crawl was worth it.

Luke dropped next to him without a sound, followed by Mara, Eriana, Kyp and finally Octa. Luke nodded to his nephew and each Jedi extracted their lightsabers from their outfits. Luke and Jacen led, followed by Eriana and Mara with Kyp and Octa taking the rear, approaching the far end of the room where Krayt stared out the window.

"I've been expecting you," Darth Krayt's deep voice echoed through the room coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. "I'm impressed you got this far. But you have gone far enough."

Darth Krayt rippled into oblivion – as only a hologram would – and Jacen swore.

"It's a trap!" He shouted and two transparisteel walls shot out of the floor, trapping Luke and Jacen between them.

The doors behind Kyp and Octa opened and seven of Krayt's warriors streamed into the room with lightsabers ablaze. The Jedi activated their lightsabers in kind and the four free Jedi engaged their seven attackers. Before Jacen and Luke could punch their lightsabers into the transparisteel cage, a stream of energy shot out from the walls. The bolt grazed Luke, burning his shoulder as he twisted out of the way and fell to the ground, but Jacen held out his palms to catch the bolt of energy. Drawing on the Force, he allowing the energy to flow through him and dissipate across the cage into the wall.

"I've got this," Jacen said to his uncle through gritted teeth as the energy threatened to overwhelm him. "Cut the cage open!"

Luke's lightsaber bounced off the transparisteel and a loud hissing noise caught his attention.

"I can't cut through it - it's magnetically sealed!" Luke said. "They're sucking the air out!" He immediately pulled as much air as he could around him and his nephew, keeping them safe from suffocation. As he turned his attention back to the transparisteel wall and prepared to use the Force on it, several darts and canisters shot out from the walls. The canisters exploded inside their air bubble and the darts mostly deflected off the armoured suits they wore, but a couple found purchase on exposed skin on both of the Jedi.

The last thing Jacen thought as the world went black was _Poison_.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Two walls slammed down around Luke and Jacen, trapping them fast, but the hiss of a door opening behind her brought Mara's attention to more pressing matters. As seven of Krayt's warriors rushed into the room with lightsabers drawn, she pressed the activation stub on her lightsaber and turned to engage them with Eriana at her side. As Kyp and Octa took on three warriors together, Mara deflected a downward swipe with a horizontal sweep, twisted with the momentum of her swing, back-kicked the first target with a Force-enhanced kick and sent the female Zabrak stumbling backwards against her male counterpart as Eriana expertly used her two blades to engage a Rodian and a Devaronian with almost effortless grace. Mara took her opponents' distraction to rush the Devaronian, letting Eriana's strike at his head distract him long enough for her to use Force-enhanced speed to rush past his back side and swing her lightsaber through his back, bisecting him from hip to shoulder. She continued her momentum toward the transparisteel wall beside Eriana and, as a bolt of lightning flashed across Luke and Jacen's cage, Mara ran up the side of the wall over Eriana and let the other woman distract the Rodian by dropping to the ground as she sprung off the wall and took his head off with a quick slash of her blade.

Mara landed on the ground, crossed half the room with a roll and came up with a twist as Eriana kipped to her feet, both of them on either side of the two Devaronians that were expecting to face Eriana or Mara alone. Using a series of fast diversionary strikes and quick steps, Eriana and Mara drove the two warriors together until they were fighting back-to-back, defensively trying to escape the cage of Jedi lightsaber strikes that kept them contained. On cue from Eriana, Mara swung high as she swung low, allowing Mara to bisect Eriana's enemy as he jumped to avoid Eriana's low slash, and Eriana chopped Mara's warrior's feet off at the ankle. A quick blow from Mara's lightsaber beheaded her warrior, and the two women turned to appraise Kyp and Octa. Or, more accurately, what was left of them.

Octa's limp body was pinned to the wall by a knife through her neck, and Kyp was on his back desperately sucking in air from the gaping hole that had obviously been carved into his chest by a lightsaber. Two of their opponents were dead and the third, a burly Besalisk with a lightsaber in each of his four hands, was sadistically watching the life fade out of Kyp.

"Go!" Kyp wheezed. He shakily raised his hand and pushed the Besalisk against the wall, holding him fast with the Force. The warrior struggled against Kyp's hold, but could not break free of the Jedi's telekinesis. "I'm dead already."

"Come on," Eriana grabbed Mara's arm.

"But…" Mara looked back at the transparisteel cage in the middle of the room, but it was already empty. She did not even notice their extraction.

"Now!" Eriana shouted, pulling on Mara's arm as she sensed Kyp gathering the Force around him. Together they disappeared into the hallway. After a few minutes of sprinting, using the Force to guide them to where they would not be noticed, Eriana skidded to a halt and pulled open an air vent above them. As Mara climbed into the air vent a wave of shock rippled through her - Kyp had finally passed into the Force.


	8. Victim

Sioux: I plan on killing everyone off on both sides so and reducing the entire population of the galaxy down to R2D2 and C3PO. Having won their independence from the evil clutches of the Solo/Skywalker family, R2 and 3PO will travel the galaxy on an endless quest looking for a pet kitten that looks remarkably like Han Solo. Okay, I _really_ need to get more sleep before writing these comments. The foiled Jedi plan is not entirely of their own faults as infiltrators... As for Jaina, I agree. Shoving those two together in canon was like mating a leonburger with a shihtzu. Should not be done. That was way too long a time between them, and I thought Danni had a great connection to the Fel family to exploit. I think part of Danni hoped that she could get away with Jaina not finding out because of the rigidity of the Csillian culture. What she didn't count on was Isolder being there and forcing the delay of Jaina being able to get the information she needed from Jag, thereby opening up the opportunity for a social event where the proverbial cat could be let out of the bag. Jag's sister never struck me as the most discrete person around. As for hockey, it means a lot more to Canada than most other countries. From my sense of what people have told me, I think for the US it would be another medal, but for Canada, it's everything. And I can't stand Crosby either.

A/N: 45 Celsius = 113 Fahrenheit.

Chapter 6: Victim [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Several hours had passed since the failed attack on Darth Krayt and Mara still did not have a plan. After escaping through the air ducts, they had to quickly abandon that route when they discovered emergency bulkheads were being closed to block their progress. Thankfully, lightsabers cut through emergency bulkheads, but that also left a trail to be followed. They had spent so much time avoiding patrols that were closing around them that they barely had time to think of how to rescue Luke and Jacen. Their efforts were also impeded by the ship jumping to hyperspace, cutting them off from HK-47 and Artoo.

"In here," Eriana whispered, stopping at a door along the otherwise empty hallway they had risked entering. She opened the door to a droid storage closet with a passcard she had stolen from one of the security personnel earlier in the day. They squeezed into the closet between the shelves of cleaning supplies and Mara found herself almost sitting on top of a deactivated astromech when the door closed, casting them into darkness.

"We can't stay here long," Mara cautioned her. "If they track our heat signatures..."

"I know, but we need to access the computer system so we can figure out where Jacen and Luke are," Eriana said. She pulled a small datapad out of her pocket and a long coil of wire from another. She handed one end of the wire to Mara and pointed to the wall behind the astromech she was sitting on. "Plug this into the data port."  
Mara took the wire and awkwardly felt around behind herself to find the port.

"Wouldn't they be able to pick up our location?"

"Probably," Eriana admitted. "But we're flying blind."

"Got it," Mara said as the wire clicked into the port. "Try the connection now."

Eriana tapped the screen several times, her face glowing a slightly different colour with every press of the screen.

"It's working. Now to slice into their security."

"Here," Mara said, holding her hand out for the datapad. "I've been doing that since before you were born."

Eriana passed it to her and removed a lightsaber from her belt, just in case.

"You know, I'm not as young as all you Jedi think I am," Eriana said. "I just turned thirty-seven."

"That doesn't change the validity of my statement," Mara said after doing some quick math in her head. "I've located their lightsabers. They're in an unguarded armoury not far from here."

"That was fast. What about the two of them?"

"They're being held in two different locations, but they're under heavy guard."

"If we try breaking one out..."

"They'll double the guard on the other," Mara finished.

"We should go after Luke," Eriana said, to Mara's surprise. "He knows more sensitive information about the Jedi than Jacen does, and Jacen knows a thing or two about surviving torture."

"Luke would want us to save Jacen."

"They'd both want us to save the other," Eriana countered. "And I think we both know where our personal loyalties lie, but we can't let emotion get in the way of logic. Losing Luke would be a much bigger blow to Jedi morale. Half the Jedi can't stand Jacen."

"We still need an escape plan." Mara turned her attention back to the datapad without offering any argument to protect her nephew. "But we'll still be trapped until we drop out of hyperspace."

"See if you can find out our destination and ETA," Eriana suggested. "If we're going to Coruscant, we may be better off waiting for them to be transferred to the planet and break them out there. A big city is easier to get lost in than a big ship."

"On it," Mara said. A few minutes passed before Mara's eyes grew wide. She held up the datapad to Eriana to show their destination.

"How...?"

"He must have tracked one of our ships," Mara said. "This is bad."

"Not entirely," Eriana said. "If he's going _there_, then he's going to want Luke and Jacen to watch the attack..."  
"...which means he'll bring them together to wherever he is..."

"...and we can get both of them out at once. Scan the ship schematic for forward view ports near the command centre."

"I'm already on it," Mara said tapping away on the screen. About ten minutes later she handed over the datapad with a map of the ship displaying a green path and a few red dots over it.

"We have twelve hours until arrival. We have to go here to get the lightsabers, here to grab some food, here to get some rest, and this is where Krayt's going to be. It's the only restricted area near the command centre with windows, and it isn't far from Krayt's quarters."

"Looks good," Eriana said. "But does this _really_ say we're sleeping in a garbage compactor?"

"Welcome to the spy life, princess," Mara said. "We go where nobody else wants to."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

At some point in the night Jaina finally came to the realization that she was not going to get any sleep, so she decided get out of bed. Hours had passed since Leia had checked in on her when everyone came back from the Fel residence. Curled up under the blankets hugging a pillow, Jaina pretended she was asleep even though her mom probably knew she was wide awake. The gesture of checking on her was not unappreciated, but since Jaina had stripped her clothes off and crawled under the sheets without bothering to put anything else on, not to mention her foul mood, she really did not want to get out of bed.

She finally sat up in bed and tossed the covers aside, looking down at her naked body with a measure of indifferent curiosity in the dim lighting of the room. She looked at her breasts, caressing the right one with her right hand and giving it a tentative squeeze, as if trying to figure out if or for what a man might be interested in it. She released her grip and her hand fell to run over her abs, well-defined from decades of training as a Jedi, and she looked down over the strong, lean muscles on her legs that had run marathons through the jungles of Yavin 4 and carried her both into and out of countless battles. The general consensus from celebrity holonet reports was that she was attractive. _Very_ attractive, even. Her body was in really good shape, she curved in the right places, and her breasts were well-suited to her small frame. But after the rejection from last night, she did not feel anything but revolting.

_What does Danni have that I don't?_ Jaina thought to herself, and shook her head. _How did Jacen get so lucky finding Tenel Ka and…I'm just…alone?_

She slowly pulled herself to the edge of the bed and got to her feet. She crossed the room and picked up her bag of clothes, quickly sifting through it for a clean set. She carried the clean clothes to the refresher and tossed them on the counter. She caught her reflection in the mirror and looked at her face. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying all night, and dark crescents stood out under her eyes against her otherwise pale skin from the lack of sleep.

Jaina turned away from the hideous reflection staring back at her and activated the sonic shower, setting it to forty five degrees. She got into the shower and tried to let it wash away her misery with the steamy heat, but all it did was make her skin feel hot. Deep down, her thoughts were still lingering on the turn of events from the night before. The more she thought about it with the sonic shower scrubbing her skin, the events of last couple weeks nearly made her sick to her stomach.

After about twenty minutes of standing in the hot shower leaning against the wall without moving, Jaina finally decided that she could stand there all day and nothing would change. Her skin had already turned bright pink from the heat, but the chill of Csilla would not leave her. She got out of the shower and quickly dressed, thankful the mirror had fogged up so she would not have to see her own reflection. She picked up the clothes scattered on the floor from the night before and gathered her few other belongings and stuffed them into her bag. Stopping only to grab some fruit and bread from the small kitchenette, she left the hotel suite without even leaving a note. She knew her mom would figure out where she went – there _was_ only one place she would go.

It was not until Jaina finished the pre-flight preparations on the _Millennium Falcon_ and locked herself in the cockpit that she finally looked at the time – it was nearly 0600, local time. The others would show up eventually, so Jaina figured she should do something productive. She pulled the data card from her jacket and shucked the jacket off, draping it across the back of the communication chair. She pulled her LinkCom from her pocket and plopped herself into the pilot seat. She hesitated for a moment, almost unwilling to accept help from him, before closing her eyes and reminding herself of what she had said to Jag the night before.

_I have no right to be upset with anyone but myself._

She had said it to appease him, trying to convince herself that she might believe those words. Distantly she knew that it was the right answer. But the pain in her heart screamed otherwise.

_I have no right to be upset with anyone but myself_, Jaina repeated, this time trying to remind herself that it was the right answer. I'm _the one who screwed things up with Jag, not Danni. I can't blame them for my mistakes._

She plugged the data card into her LinkCom and watched as ten files appeared on the file menu. She selected the first file and began reading.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Like an underwater game of tug of war, Jacen slowly fought his way back to a level of consciousness where thought and perception became coherent enough that he could start to make sense of his situation. His limbs felt heavy and his mind sluggish as he tried rolling to his feet, but merely rolled off the bunk and landed face-first on the cold hard metal floor. He clumsily felt around, reaching up to his face to remove the blindfold so he could see, but no blindfold was present. It took him a few moments to realize the problem was not with his eyes: the room he was in was completely dark. His mind slowly caught up to his last memories as it sluggishly played out the trap – him and Luke fighting the lack of air, the electrical currents, and...the poison.

Jacen closed his eyes and focused the Force inside himself and discovered the poison spreading inside him, but it felt like hollow points in the Force. He switched to his Vongsense and the hollow points lit up like stars in the night sky – poison spores, not very different from the ones his aunt had been infected with. Using his Vongsense and the Force, he tweaked the white blood cells in his body to direct them in fighting the spores and modified the water in his blood to break up the toxins. Sometime later he finally felt refreshed and, satisfied the poison was removed from his system, slowly pushed himself to his feet. He held out a hand and gathered several air molecules near his palm, speeding them up until they began to emit light. He tossed the ball into the air and gathered more air molecules together, repeating the process until he had four balls of light hovering above him under his control. Using the light he was able to examine the small dark grey cell he had been imprisoned in, but was unable to find any immediate means of escape. Checking his pockets, everything had been removed, including the ball of lint he had been saving.

The door unexpectedly shot up into the ceiling and Jacen extinguished his lights. Two human Bogan warriors with extensive tattoos entered with lightsabers drawn, but not ignited, and ordered him to join them. He slowly walked up to them, assessing them with the Force as if to hint that he was not afraid of them, and walked past them. He sensed the blow coming before it hit and shifted slightly so it hit his rib cage instead of on his spine, but he fell to his knees with a cry of pain, feigning the more serious blow. If they wanted him dead, he knew he would be already. The two Bogan warriors grabbed him by his wrists and dragged him between them down the long hallway out of the detention area.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Engrossed in the files given to her by Jag, Jaina abstractly took note of her companions as they entered the hanger bay and boarded the ship. She only glanced up at them for a second to make sure they were all there and tried to suppress the flash of annoyance when she noticed Danni was with them.

_Not her fault_. Jaina reminded herself and put the datapad aside. She checked the time, noting it was almost 0915, and activated the communication system and the engine warm-up procedure.

"Csilla Ground, this is _Millennium Falcon_ requesting clearance for takeoff and a departure vector coreward on flight plan X-3580 that was filed yesterday."

"_Csilla Ground to Millennium Falcon, you are cleared for flight plan X-3580. Please wait for the hanger bay to retract before commencing takeoff procedures. Winds are blowing at 40 knots from the south-west."_

_"Millennium Falcon,_ acknowledged."

Jaina switched on the internal speakers.

"Takeoff in one minute," Jaina advised gruffly. "Strap in."

She flicked it back off and looked up at the roof as it slowly peeled itself open, dropping accumulated snow and letting the brilliant morning sunlight into the hanger. To her surprise, the door opened behind her.

"I thought I locked that," Jaina said as her mother sat in the co-pilot's seat.

"Do you really think your father wouldn't have created a way to get into the sealed cockpit of his own ship?" Leia asked evenly. "He never wanted anyone but himself to take his baby."

"Millennium Falcon_, this is Csilla Ground. Hanger doors are fully retracted. Please proceed with takeoff and flight plan X-3580."_

"Thank you, Csilla Ground. _Millennium Falcon _proceeding on course X-3580."

Jaina added power to the repulsor jets and the _Falcon_ gently lifted from the ground, hovering up about twenty metres above the hanger bay before Jaina retracted the landing pads and added power to the main drive. She pointed the ship up and slammed the throttle to almost full, sending a jolt through the ship that slammed her back into her seat.

"Woah!" Jaina said, bringing back the throttle a bit and grinning sheepishly at her mom's glare. "I forgot how fast this ship is."

"Let's just hope the Chiss don't think of that as a slight against their hospitality," Leia said. "Where are we going next?"

Jaina passed her the LinkCom without taking her eyes or hands off the operation of the ship.

"Jag is a Black Vornskr," Jaina said, trying to maintain a professional tone of voice to hide her pain. "If the Chiss found out, I'm sure there'd be hell to pay. He passed me that data card last night. Wedge contacted him several times over the last couple weeks to gather some intel and support. Those are transcripts of all of their official and unofficial communications over the last few weeks, as well as some older files and Jag's own thoughts and a guide to decrypting their obscure encoding references. Long story short, he believes Wedge is hiding in the Deep Core."

"The Deep Core is dangerous for a fleet that size," Leia said absently, looking over Jag's notes.

"I know _that_," Jaina snapped.

"_Excuse_ _me_?"

Jaina closed her eyes and grimaced for a second. "Sorry. I'm just…last night was…"

"I know." Leia sighed. "But I'm not your enemy. Try to remember that."

They sat in silence for a few moments until the _Falcon_ broke through the atmosphere. Jaina set a course out of the gravity well of Csilla while Leia brought up the charts on the navicomputer.

"Where do you want to start?" Leia asked.

"Iope," Jaina said. "Jag determined that some of Wedge's communications were routed through there."

Silence persisted for a few moments until Jaina finally turned to her mom.

"Thanks," she said, getting a curious look from Leia. "For talking to me and not making me feel like a complete moron and for not bothering me when I was in bed. I needed that as much as I needed space."

"It's what family…" Leia's eyes shifted over Jaina's shoulder and widened in a way that froze her daughter's heart. "Oh, no."

Jaina turned around and saw what her mom had seen – ships jumping into the system. Hundreds. No, _thousands_ of ships. They opened fire on the unprepared Chiss defense fleet, overwhelming them by sheer volume of laser fire.

"We have to help them," Jaina said, reaching for the controls, but a gentle hand grabbed her wrist.

"No," Leia said. "No, Jaina, we have to find Wedge. There's nothing we can do against a fleet that size. Our mission is too important to risk on a fool's errand."

"But…"

"Jaina," Leia squeezed her wrist tighter, finally getting eye contact from her daughter. "You haven't slept, you're emotional, and we are only one small ship with a much more important mission ahead of us. I don't care if you're the captain of this ship or the ranking Jedi Master, attacking is _not_ a good idea and I'm not going to let you do it."

Jaina looked back out the window and watched helplessly as hundreds more ships were dropping out of hyperspace, joining the ones already plodding toward the Chiss home world.

A chime from the navicomputer jolted Jaina's awareness, and she did the only thing she could – she pulled the lever to activate the hyperdrive.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After being dragged for several long minutes down hallways and through turboshafts as if part of an exposition for everyone on board to see a broken Jedi, Jacen felt the ship drop out of hyperspace. He reached out with the Force to get a sense of their destination and felt a wave of shock fall over him when he recognized it. He was finally dragged into a dark room where he was unceremoniously tossed a couple metres in before his deliverers retreated. He looked up and saw the distinctive shape of Darth Krayt's armour against the world in the distance, but waited where he landed to catch his breath. A few moments later, the door opened behind him and a body was dropped beside him, bound at his wrists behind his back. It took him a minute in the relative darkness to recognize the battered, bloodied body of Luke Skywalker. While Jacen had been lucky to escape the beating, he could sense the poison coursing through his uncle's veins. Perhaps his uncle had put up a fight and lost. Or, more likely, they decided to beat him up for the sick pleasure of it.

"Thank you for joining me," Lord Krayt finally spoke in a deep cultured tone, gesturing for his two Jedi captives to join him closer to the window. Jacen used the Force to release the binders and helped his uncle to his feet. Together they made their way closer to the Sith Lord, Luke leaning heavily on Jacen for support with his arm around his nephew's shoulder.

"Do you know what you are?" Krayt asked in an arrogantly philosophical tone. He waited for several moments until he realized that his question was considered rhetorical by the two Jedi. "You are a disease. The Jedi are infecting the entire galaxy with their counterproductive ideals, preventing it from prospering. You insist on war, and you only destroy that which you want to build. It is time for this insanity to stop. It is time for _one_ ruler in the galaxy, one strong enough to bring it together and end this pointless contest."

"Palpatine tried the same thing," Jacen replied evenly. "You're just going to be another failure in a long line of Sith failures."

"Perhaps," Krayt said agreeably, turning to make eye contact with Jacen – his two different coloured eyes glowing in sharp contrast with the shadows of his face against the planet behind him. "But as an old Jedi Master once taught, 'try not; do or do not.'

"Do you know the capabilities of my ship, young Jedi?" Krayt continued. "The superlasers are quite capable of destroying most capital ships on their own. But when you put several of them together..."

Krayt gestured to either side of him, where seven more of his capital ships dropped out of hyperspace into formation as if on his cue.

"You can destroy a planet."

Jacen closed his eyes and pushed out with the Force for a second before looking at Krayt.

"Don't even try it," Jacen warned him. "Not even you are that stupid."

"What better way is there to destroy the future of the Jedi Order than to wipe out the Jedi Temple and the last remaining stronghold of _children_?" Krayt demanded, ignoring Jacen's warning.

Krayt smiled and pressed a button on his wrist communicator.

"All ships, lock target on the planet below and synchronize attack."

"Zonoma Sekot is not a threat to you unless you make her one!" Jacen shouted. "Don't attack her, Krayt!"

"_Attack synchronization complete. Ready to fire on your order._"

"Witness, the fall of the Jedi, young Skywalkers," Krayt mocked and turned back to face the doomed planet before him. "Fire!"

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A/N: This is the end of part one. Part 2 will continue in April. May the Force be with you.


End file.
